I was not prepared for the sight of Michael Williams.  During my preparatory call in the spring of 2024, I struggled to understand most of what he had to say. Sure, we had a technical problem as Rush’s community health and engagement director Traci Simmons needed to call him on his phone and connect us through Teams as Williams had no computer.  All I understood was that he was a heart patient – the rest was close to inaudible, which I put down to his disease and advanced age. Only at the end of our conversation did he mention that he had 20 guitars, which intrigued me immediately. Still, our conversation had left me with the impression that I had been talking to a weakened man, 70-years old, who had experienced multiple strokes which had left one of his hands near-paralyzed. Additional neck and back problems had further burdened his life. When we arrived in Chicago and rang the bell outside his house, I wondered who would greet me. But not even wishful thinking would have readied me for the handshake with a local music hero who goes by the stage name Guitar Mike.

Michael Williams, Guitar Mike, has some 20 guitars in his home and a little studio where he records new songs.

B.B. King Clad in a white stage dress and a white hat like a true rock ’n’ roll star, he welcomed us with a big smile on his face and let us into his apartment on the second floor of a terraced house in the center of West Side Chicago. The 20 guitars he had talked about were neatly positioned along the living room wall, next to a mini recording studio that he used for creating new tapes that he would send around to prepare his next gigs. On the wall, pictures of B.B. King, Michael Jackson’s brother Tito, and other music greats, all of them people Guitar Mike knew and played with in the past, back when he was regularly on tour and had gigs across the United States. 

Guitar Mike played with some of the greatest in show business. His walls are full of pictures of music legends he played with.

Guitar Mike played with some of the greatest in show business. His walls are full of pictures of music legends he played with.

We were speechless. Earlier that year, around the time when I had my short talk with him, Williams had such neck and back pain that community health worker, Jasmine Martinez, who monitors him as part of Rush University System for Health’s heart health program E3 feared for him.  “He was really in a bad shape,” said Martinez. “That he was able to turn around so quickly is almost a bit of a miracle, but also down to the therapy he receives from Rush and the fact that he is monitored remotely.”  Williams himself put it this way: “I was bent over for two months, like someone a hundred years old, suffering from back pain. I couldn’t sit, lay down, or play. I was crying and shaking from so much pain. Now, I’m excited to be back playing again.”

Rush ’n’ roll As he picked up one of his guitars and started to play for us – including his biggest hit Don’t step on my shoes, which even B.B. King had praised – he told us about his ordeal and how he was able re-emerge from the series of setbacks he had experienced in the years before. "When I had my first stroke several years ago, my blood pressure went up to 260,” Williams said. “I tried to pick up a piece of paper and realized I couldn’t move my hand.” Two more strokes followed, and a protruded neck disk deepened his troubles.

“I’ve had three strokes, knee replacement surgery, and multiple surgeries on my neck with screws and brackets in there,” Williams told us. “People say I’m like a bionic man. But I’m just happy I’m still here.” Only after he was included in Rush’s E3 program and received physiotherapy for his paralyzed hand did his life slowly begin to turn around. But it was still a hard struggle. “Initially, I tried to take a key and open a door, but I couldn’t do it with this hand. It just gave out,” he said.  “The doctors kept asking, ‘What would make you happy?’ I said, ‘Just to play again.’ I couldn’t pick up a cross they put on the table, but I kept trying,” Williams said, recalling the initial period after his series of strokes.

But he did not give up. “A few of my friends, musicians, thought I wouldn’t make it, but I never gave up,” he said. “The doctors told me to rest, but I grabbed my guitar. Playing brought life back to me.” The guitar and his love for music kept him going. “That’s what made me push and fight more. My guitar also helped me get more therapy. Even though it’s very little that I can do with this hand, I can move it when I push the nerves out,” he explained.

Michael Williams shares his apartment with several doves.

Concert “I’m still living as a musician,” Williams said. “I can move my fingers, not 100 percent, but enough to keep playing. I just wanted to play a song, and eventually, I did,” Williams added, explaining how he struggled back to regain control of his life. Eventually, it allowed him not only to record new songs in his studio, but to go back on stage and perform with his friends. “Every day, some musician calls me, ‘Come play, come be on stage, come be in a video, come be in a movie.’ It happens all the time,” he said. On the day we met Williams, he was invited to play at a concert in Indiana in front of a large crowd of several thousand people. However, because of some misunderstandings between the organizers and his managers, he was unable to play. We still had a chance to see him perform at the 50 Yard Line, a Chicago South Side music club, where he would play a few days later. The crowded bar with around 150 guests cheered Guitar Mike on stage. For him, it felt almost like in the old days.

“When I play music, it’s like therapy,” Williams said after the concert, sweating all over and visibly exhausted, but happy. Together with his manager, he left the gig for another show and what for him was still a bright future, irrespective of his health condition and age. Gratitude When I watched him on the stage that night, even though he only played two songs, I saw him in a different light and realized how this seemingly everyday music performance was intrinsically connected to a much bigger picture that was invisible to the rest of the audience.

Being on stage is being alive for Michael Williams.

Had it not been for Rush and the E3 program of Novartis, which ensures that Williams gets regular check-up calls and reminders to take his medication and that his case is also discussed and controlled by his care team, he might have never showed up at the 50 Yard Line. He might have been at home, or worse, dead, because no one else would have cared for him. Williams could have easily become another data point in a grim statistic, which puts the average life expectancy for West Side Chicago residents at below 70 years. But thanks to the efforts of David Ansell and the support of Rush, as well as corporate sponsors such as Novartis, Williams had the chance to continue doing what he loves most and what is the center of his world.  While healthcare professionals talk of social determinants of health that put the lives of people such as Michael Williams at risk, for Williams himself it all boils down to gratitude: “Thanks to the doctors for the hope, and thanks to my fans for praying, I never gave up. I’m happy now, recording albums, getting ready for a music video. Life is starting to feel good again.” While Ansell was not with us for the night out, Quintonele Allen, or Q, as she is called among friends and family, joined us for a late drink and meeting with Guitar Mike. For her, like for many of the nurses and community health workers at Rush, healthcare should unleash people to pursue happiness.

Guitar Mike on stage. He performed as if nothing had happened.

This deeply American attitude is the basis for Ansell’s social medicine vision, which not only is becoming a reality in Chicago’s West Side but is serving as a model for other cities in the country. Sharing his vision, Novartis is set to support Ansell in this huge endeavor. To finish reading the feature, click on the epilogue in the map below.

Explore the full Chicago Story Series Health System Strengthening

Prologue: Seven stops down the blue line A journey in space and time.
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1. The two towers Rising towers, sinking fortunes. →  Read the story

2. Seeing potential Chicago through the eyes of an economic developer. →  Read the story

3. A near fatal gunshot Marcus Kelley’s life change in an instant. →  Read the story

4. I am them Empathy offers a way out of the crisis. →  Read the story

5. More than baseball Community at its best. →  Listen to the story

6. Social medicine Healthcare starts with the economy. →  Read the story

7. A collaboration Data can save lives. →  Read the story

You are here 8. Night out The re-emergence of Guitar Mike.

Read next Epilogue: A note of success E3 is set to change Chicago.
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