Patient's Stories


	Patients' Success Stories Everett's Story: “I’m thinking, I can move my leg and Bob Marley says ‘don’t give up, no matter how hard, no matter how it looks, here’s a light at the end of the tunnel.” When Everett Dixon was 26 years old he had a massive stroke. He woke up one morning to suddenly find that he could not move any part of his right side. “Nothing would work,” Everett recalls. Panicked and unaware of what was happening to him, he called out to his sleeping brother Daniel and sent him to get help. Considered a genetically caused stroke, the specific culprit in Everett’s case is Sickle Cell Anemia. Prior to the stroke, he typically had no Sickle Cell related crises; the effects of the disease would come and go. "Sometimes I would feel good and then all of a sudden I’m feeling bad.”	Everett, Sean and Maria told their stories in this feature, "Music and Healing the Brain," shown on WABC-TV's Health News with Dr. Jay Adlersberg.
	Still, though the day of the stroke began quite normally, it would end with an ambulance trip to the hospital. The stroke had affected not only his limbs, but also his ability to speak and his ability to remember names. “At first, I was really depressed,” states Everett. “I couldn’t even remember my mother’s name. My sister who was pregnant at the time I had my stroke would come and visit me and I would refer to her as ‘that pregnant lady’ because I couldn’t remember her name either.“ For the next five months he remained hospitalized, first at Mercy Medical Center and later at Albert Einstein Hospital. “At Einstein they got me moving again, I can move most of my body, though my right arm still doesn’t work,” says Everett. Finally able to leave the hospital, Everett Dixon was transferred to Beth Abraham where he could focus fully on his rehabilitation. Now aged 28, Everett is a member of Beth Abraham’s Music for Health iPOD Listening Program, “With music you can reach out and connect with other people. Everyone has something that connects him to something else.” The artists on Everett’s iPOD includes Tupac, Michael Jackson and Musiq Soulchild, but the dominant musical inspiration comes from such Reggae artists as Mavado, Peter Tosh, Burning Spear and of course, Bob Marley. “I’m thinking, I can move my leg and Bob Marley says ‘don’t give up, no matter how hard, no matter how it looks, here’s a light at the end of the tunnel.” For Everett Dixon, the journey continues. He reports that his memory is working better. He recalls more of how things used to be and is grateful to everyone who has helped him through these last two years. Grateful too and for the love of his people, most especially he says with a smile, his Mother Grace, his sisters Lisa and Judy and his little brother Daniel. And the music… “The iPOD might not help me cross the street, but going home and listening to the musical content makes me happy and keeps me going, you have to fight for what you want. I’m not there yet, but I’m getting somewhere.” Sean's Story: “The music gives me strength, gives me energy and it makes me feel good. I don’t think about the bad stuff or how far I came from. I just do the best I can.”
	Most days start ordinarily enough. A decade ago, Sean Dawkins packed his wife and child into his car for the short trip to visit his wife’s mother. In one of those cliché random acts of violence we read about in newspapers, gunshots rang out. Two bullets struck Sean Dawkin’s car door; a third found the back of his head. Sean had gotten in the way of a drive by shooting, a consequence of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Blessedly, his wife and child escaped physically unscathed. Sean Dawkins spent the next four months in a coma with a traumatic brain injury that dogs him to this day. A native of Kingston, Jamaica, Sean moved to New York when he was 19 to join his mother. At age 28 he was married, had a son and was living in Washington DC. After waking from his coma, Sean found himself wheelchair bound, unable to see clearly and understandably angry at the fate that had befallen him. Recalls Sean: “Before I got injured, I would lift weights. I had a brown belt in karate. I was not used to myself in a wheelchair, and it made me mad.” Finally, Sean’s brother brought him back to New York to continue his rehabilitation at Beth Abraham Health Services. His condition improved, and he now lives on his own while receiving the services he needs from Beth Abraham's Adult Day Health Care Program. It was here that Sean got involved with Music For Health iPOD Listening Program, created by the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function. His iPOD is loaded with reggae and Spanish music but it is the Gospel selections that remain his favorites. It is a testimonial in part, to his Mother’s influence. “The music gives me strength, gives me energy and it makes me feel good, “ says Sean. “I don’t think about the bad stuff or how far I came from. I just do the best I can.” It’s been a long, hard ten years for Sean Dawkins. Though he walks haltingly, the wheelchair no longer limits him. Today, in addition to the time he spends at Beth Abraham, he can be found in the library studying for his GED. After that, he would like to go to college. “It’s wonderful,” says Sean, “when you can walk and go where you want to go.” Maria's Story: “I would like others to benefit from what I have been through and to take part in the help that the Adult Day Health Center gives.”
	Maria Serrano gently sets the pale green iPOD shuffle on to the table in front of her and speaks reluctantly about the day a few years back when she got dizzy, fell and her life changed forever. It is not an event she likes to recall or recount; like anyone else she prefers to forget her troubles, if only for a brief time. Her fall was serious. Maria’s right leg was broken in four places, ligaments were torn and blood flow to her leg severely impacted. Surgeons were unable to repair the damage, even attempting a vein transplant to improve circulation, all to no avail. Ultimately, the lack of circulation to her leg, likely exacerbated by her pre-existing diabetes, caused gangrene to set in. Maria Serrano’s right leg was amputated above the knee. While recovering at Beth Abraham’s Subacute Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation program, doctors treating Maria discovered that she was also suffering from a blood vessel disease of the brain called athero-embolic disease. In layman’s terms, the very small blood vessels in the brain become blocked and can break or leak as a result. While this type of blockage can be treated in the larger vessels in the brain, these small blood vessels cannot be operated on. The diminished blood flow can affect parts of the brain, possibly causing dizziness, stroke and in some cases, even mimic some of the memory loss symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. Part of what keeps Maria Serrano going, raises her spirits and refreshes her memories of happier times can be found on that tiny iPOD shuffle. The music that lives there offers a welcome and familiar soundtrack to her life. More importantly, it creates a bridge that passes over and around areas of Maria’s brain affected by the blood vessel disease, providing access to memories that might otherwise grow increasingly dim and elusive. For the hours each day that she spends at Beth Abraham’s Adult Day Health Care Program, that postage stamp-sized MP3 player (provided by Beth Abraham) serves as a kind of memory short cut to happier times, before a wheelchair became her main means of getting around. The music too, offers a momentary respite from what Maria calls her “troubles.” Indeed, Maria’s musical menu -- chosen by her and not for her -- is filled with high-energy Salsa along with such Latin music legends as Julio Iglesias and “the Queen”, Celia Cruz. Whether working on her handicrafts or exercising her passion for word puzzles, the music of her life is always at hand. Asan added bonus, the music energizes Maria to help others in the Adult DayHealth Care program. “I would like others to benefit from what I have been through and to take part in the help that thecenter gives,” Serrano says.
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