A Visit With

Official Website of Children’s Book Author C.A. Harmon

About Harmon

Extended Biography

In a world of silence, shadow and stillness, Christopher A. Harmon wields the powers of a deep inner secret to hold back the crushing weight of the void that surrounds him.

No one is certain exactly when it began, but the first signs that something was amiss appeared shortly after Harmon’s sixth birthday. His usual gentle and fun-loving personality changed dramatically. He became oddly rude towards others and he had a tendency to behave carelessly, sometimes even dangerously—such as riding his bike in front of oncoming cars. This bewildering switch in Harmon’s nature coincided with the birth of his sister and doctors assured his parents that it was nothing more than a classic case of sibling jealousy, advising them to exercise strict discipline. But as the months went by, the situation worsened and now the boy was behaving hysterically, often attacking others unprovoked.

Finally, suspicious that something just wasn’t right, Harmon’s parents checked him into the Indiana Hospital near their home where he underwent nearly a month of intensive testing. There, doctors discovered that the boy was suffering from combined hearing, vision and balance loss, but were unable to determine the cause. It became clear that Harmon was not being rude, he simply couldn’t hear people talking to him. Nor was he being careless; he couldn’t see the cars coming at him. And his hysterical behavior was the effect of being repeatedly punished for what seemed to the child like no reason at all.

Not until Harmon was admitted to the Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia was it discovered that he had an extremely rare neurological condition known as Spino Cerebellar Degeneration that bottlenecks communication between the spinal cord and the cerebellum. At that time and still today, very little was known about this disease. Doctors did know that it was a progressive condition that would see gradual deterioration of motor and muscular control and loss of other functions, somewhat similar to MD. Medical specialists gently advised the parents to expect the worst, saying that Harmon would not live past the age of ten. Harmon celebrated his tenth birthday very much a robust healthy boy. Doctors extended the grim prophecy to age twelve and then fifteen. Until finally, they gave up guessing and said, “Chris will die when he darn well feels like it.” And now Harmon is 36 and still chuggin’ along through the prairie sure and steady.

Shortly after being diagnosed, Harmon’s family moved from Indianapolis to Eden Prairie, Minnesota where he began third grade. The town’s school board took one look at his file and concluded that if a student could not hear, see or walk, he must also surely be cognitively dysfunctional and they proceeded to dump the boy into Special Education. But scholastic aptitude tests showed that Harmon, who loved to read and never left the library with less than the maximum number of books allowed, had an IQ far above the standard for a third grader. After a year and a half of heated debate, Harmon was returned to the mainstream classroom and began working with his first Sign Language interpreter. But Harmon did not escape the months in Special Education without some ill-effects. The constant confusion and self-doubt triggered an identity crisis within the boy that lasted into his early adulthood and was to be a foreshadowing of the many trials and hardships that were destined to haunt him for the remainder of his life.

“Who am I?” Harmon asks himself over and over. “Who am I?”

Today, Harmon is deaf, legally blind and moves about in a wheelchair. He uses a respirator to help him breathe for most of the day and eats through a gastric tube. He can chat and crack jokes with family and friends, or discuss business at a meeting by communicating through Sign Language. Because of the combined effects of his disabilities, Harmon has no voice. He “talks” to an interpreter who reads his lips and voices aloud his words—a rather slow and tedious process as well as one that requires months for an interpreter to learn. A typical day usually has a bump or two popping up into Harmon’s path, but he never lets them stop him.

“Challenge and I have been best friends since I was six,” Harmon explains. “There is always a way to make things work. Sometimes you have to pound at it a bit. If that doesn't work, then you have to look beyond the old ways of thinking and invent a whole new way of doing it.”

Armed with this positive outlook, Harmon continues to lead an active life. He enjoys such activities as watching movies on the big screen, playing with his niece and going for “rolls” around the lake near his Burnsville home. Harmon gives much of the credit for his independence to the Sign Language interpreters who work with him. They do more than facilitate communication—they are the vital element linking Harmon to life.

“That triumphant day when I secured fulltime Sign Language interpreter services after eighteen months of battle in the courtroom is forever immortalized in my memory,” Harmon recalls. “That was the day I found life cupped in my hands.”

And that was the day Harmon decided it was time. Time to unleash the might of the deep inner secret that keeps him from sinking into the quicksand of despair. A secret that propels him into a tomorrow bright with hope and optimism. His imagination.

“Ever since the onset of my disabilities, I have lived in a world of silence, shadow and stillness. It was cold, dark, bleak… totally empty. I couldn’t handle the awful nothingness. Humans simply are not meant to live in a void.”

Harmon shudders as he shares this memory. “I was sitting in a waiting room at the Philadelphia Children’s Hospital frozen with fright because I knew more painful tests were coming. Mother pressed a book into my clammy hands, it was ‘Eddie and the Fire Engine’ by Carolyn Haywood. I opened the book—and on the first page, I was magically whisked away to a world that was whole and rich in sound, color and motion. The void was gone. That’s where I discovered my secret.”

By sitting within six inches of the computer monitor and dictating to a small army of interpreters, Harmon began to harvest the fruits of his imagination and put them down on the page. He has now completed four manuscripts, all of which will be part of The Hourglass Tales series. The first of a two-part story titled “Treasures of the Shadows” was his first triumph and was released in October, 2006. The second part, “Secrets of the Shadows” will become available in 2007. The story is a fictional historical drama set during the Great Depression. Other titles to come include another two-part story that captures the drama of the American Revolutionary War. The Hourglass Tales series would be most appropriately placed alongside of such cherished classics as “Anne of Green Gables”, “Heidi” and the modern series of “American Girls”. A key difference between Harmon’s work and the ones just listed is that Harmon’s stories are designed to be appreciated by all age groups and not just by the youth.

Every author must choose a medium for their writing. For Harmon, it’s fiction. But not just any ordinary fiction. He uses the loom of his imagination to weave threads of reality into the fabric of his stories. “I feel the most comfortable in the total freedom that you have with a story that’s entirely made up,” explains Harmon. “But at the same time, a story is stronger and more meaningful when you incorporate real life morals. I have a wealth of insight that I’ve gained through my many years of struggle and I want to share the benefits of those lessons with other people. Plus I think it’s fun to challenge myself and find ways to weave parallels of my own experiences into the story.”

And parallels indeed jam pack the story of “Treasures of the Shadows” and “Secrets of the Shadows.” Some of them will be immediately obvious, such as the haunting “Who am I” theme. Others will only be deciphered by the thinking reader. And still others will never be understood or even noticed by anyone but Harmon. And then there are the characters. Each of the dozen or so primary characters represents a different element that is constantly working to shape Harmon’s life. Examples are: optimism, defeat, doubt, determination and the unpredictable.

What’s next, another book? “More stories are on the way,” answers Harmon, grinning mischievously. “Some of them won’t fit in a book, but we will see them come alive in true sound, color and motion.”

Harmon is hinting at the company he founded in 2004, Legacy Pictures, Inc. and his ambitious vision to become an independent “indie” film producer and screenplay writer of quality family entertainment. He has a feature-length script titled “Sparkle, Serena!” co-authored by himself and award-winning screenplay writer, Doug Klozzner. Legacy Pictures, Inc. is currently seeking donations and investment to finance the production.

“There is no limit to the imagination,” Harmon laughs in response to the raised eyebrows.

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Copyright © 2007 C.A. Harmon. All Rights Reserved.