How one Pinellas County mom fought for her son’s success through music

OLDSMAR — Milosz Gasior poised his hands above the piano, then brought them down with a flourish to hammer the opening bars of the theme song to “The Phantom of the Opera.”

His mother, Bozena Gasior, stood beside him brimming with pride.

Milosz doesn’t talk much, but is deeply expressive when he plays the piano.

A graduate of the Pinellas County Center for the Arts at Gibbs High School in St. Petersburg, the 20-year-old is the program’s first piano major with autism.

He was dubbed “Mr. Inspirational” by the organization Help Us Gather, which helped promote him. He has performed at events like the recent Cars & Couture at the Tampa Museum of Art and a gala for Parc Center for Disabilities.

At his home in Oldsmar, a piano and practice keyboards fill a room where Milosz practices for about seven hours a day, on his own and with a teacher.

When performing in public, he always has with him a large sign that reads: “Defying Autism with Music.”

A life-changing diagnosis

Bozena, her husband Marek and their son Patryk moved to the U.S. from Poland in 2001, for Marek’s job at Soft Computer Consultants in Clearwater.

Milosz was born in 2003. By the time he was 16 or 18 months old, Bozena noticed he would stare into space, run away from his family at the playground and wasn’t talking.

When a pediatrician downplayed his lack of speech, attributing it to their multilingual household, Bozena took him to a developmental specialist, who diagnosed him with moderate to severe autism. Bozena said the diagnosis came with a firm message that there is nothing she could do to change the outcome.

“My world crashed,” Bozena said. “It was a very dark time.”

She mourned the independent life that Milosz might have led.

“But then this mourning turned to rebellion,” she said. “I was like, there has to be a way to do something.”

The family did try treatments early on, including a process of detoxification from heavy metals and occupational and speech therapy. It was the hyperbaric oxygen therapy that kept them in the U.S. longer than they had intended.

Bozena found that outdoor physical activity helped Milosz a lot, so they tried swimming, inline skating, bouncing on a pogo stick — anything that would help him expend energy.

Milosz began horseback riding through Horses for Handicapped, an activity that continues today. While he’s doing it, Bozena said, it’s not obvious that he has autism.

She saw a way forward that looked a little brighter.

Finding the right note

When Milosz was 7 years old, his older brother Patryk was taking piano lessons. There was a little keyboard and music books at the house, so Bozena — who in addition to teaching German at the University of Tampa also plays trumpet and reads music — decided to teach Milosz the piano, too.

Right away, Bozena said, Milosz was able to make music. She uses the word “magical” to describe this time.

She gave her son a notebook in which she wrote musical exercises, then let him color in circles as he finished each one. It gave him a break from playing but kept him focused. He still uses the practice today.

His playing opened a channel of communication between him and Bozena. He seemed like a different child to her, she said, so focused on the music.

Finding a piano teacher who would be able to communicate with Milosz was a challenge, but Bozena was determined. A teacher known as Mr. Fred with a reputation for being strict was recommended to her, so she called him.

When the first lesson was over, Mr. Fred told her he had no experience teaching students with autism. Bozena made a deal with him: Give Milosz three lessons, which she would be present for. If he didn’t want to teach her son after that, she’d understand. But she felt she needed to be bold for Milosz in this moment, she said.

Thirteen years later, Mr. Fred is still Milosz’s teacher.

It takes a village

It was two years after those lessons started before Milosz performed for other people — at his home during a Christmas party for a group of Bozena’s students to whom she taught English as a second language.

Bozena also fought for Milosz’s education, ensuring that he would work with a personal assistant from kindergarten all the way through high school. This meant that he was able to attend general education classes and, with the assistant’s help, excelled.

Milosz started playing with the Palm Harbor Middle School jazz band once he was in seventh grade. When it came time to choose a high school, the program at Gibbs High School was the best fit because of the piano major course.

Bozena had two meetings with directors in the program before Milosz auditioned, to make them aware that he would have an assistant with him in his classes. They “took a chance” on Milosz, Bozena said, and he wound up graduating magna cum laude and in the National Honor Society and the Music Honor Society.

She acknowledges that Milosz wouldn’t have achieved these accolades without the assistant’s help and her own. The cords and diplomas are proudly displayed in the living room.

Setting the stage for success

While Milosz was still in high school, they came across the Help Us Gather organization, and soon he was playing at galas at the St. Pete Yacht Club.

In December 2022, Milosz was booked to play in Tampa International Airport every weekend. It was there that a fateful meeting inspired Bozena to share their story with the world.

Mark Schoenfeld, who wrote a Broadway show called “Brooklyn the Musical,” was getting picked up at the airport by a friend who heard Milosz playing and brought Schoenfeld to watch him and meet Bozena.

“I was just astonished at both of them,” said Schoenfeld, talking by phone from California. “His mother told me the story and I felt I could help.”

He encouraged Bozena to write a book as a “soldier mom,” doing everything in her power to give Milosz a good life. It published in November.

She titled it ”I Heard the Light,” for the moment when she realized that she and Milosz could communicate through music.

Schoenfeld remains committed to helping them and connected Bozena with author and speaker Kathy Eldon, whose Creative Visions Foundation produced the film “Extraordinary Moms” that aired on the Oprah Winfrey Network. Eldon’s son Dan was a photojournalist who was killed while working in Somalia.

Bozena is now working with Creative Visions on a project called Defying Autism. It will not only create awareness of success stories like Milosz’s, but also be a resource for families who are just receiving an autism diagnosis — something Bozena is passionate about.

“I want them to know there are so many things that can change the lives of this child,” she said.

She’s realistic about the fact that Milosz will be dependent upon others for the rest of his life.

“But look how happy he is,” she said. “And really, I can say, successful.”