Operatic Healing

February 23, 2008 - 11:13 AM by

Doctors at a Tel Aviv hospice were pleasantly surprised recently when a comatose patient woke up after six weeks following “opera sessions” performed by his mother.

According to Hebrew press, the 30-year-old was in a bicycle accident that rendered him vegetative. After 17 days, he was declared unresponsive to external stimuli & transferred from the hospital to a facility for comatose patients.

The man’s mom, a former opera singer, began singing bits from operas by his bedside and within six weeks he was responding to his wife and children with eye movements. He then reacted to staff-generated musical cues and eventually he came out of the coma altogether.

Hospital staff speculate that the opera music stimulated his brain prompting him to “wake up”.

“The parts of the brain that recognize patterns and rhythm and connect them to language comprehension and expression helped rouse the patient,” explained Dr. Avraham Lazri of the hospice. “His mother’s singing apparently sparked childhood memories and helped bring him back to consciousness.”

Turandot or Madame Butterfly, anyone?

Tags: • Category: Life, Profiles 

Comments

One Comment on Operatic Healing

  1. Marilynn Ahlin on Mon, Feb 25th 2008 8:46 PM

    2. What an inspiration to never give up no matter how hopeless it may seem.

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