Returning The Gift of Music: Evan's Story
- sophiesplace3
- Jul 10, 2023
- 2 min read
Evan was a 15-year-old young man who loved to play the piano. One day, however, he sat down to play the piano and he couldn't remember how to play. Evan had started playing at 5-years-old and the piano was such an important part of his daily life so his mother immediately knew that something was wrong. His mother brought him to Sutter Medical Center and he was diagnosed with a rare and deadly virus called Encephalitis. Encephalitis is a form of inflammation in the brain which can be caused by infection or an autoimmune response. This can lead to headaches, stiffness, confusion, and even seizures.
While admitted to the hospital, Evan worked with an incredible medical team to help him recover and return to baseline. He also worked with the music therapy team. While he will still have follow-up appointments, he is improving dramatically.
A few days after his hospital stay Evan returned to the hospital, hoping to return the kindness he was shown and use his musical gift to improve the lives of other pediatric patients. Evan returned to Sophie’s Place, the dedicated music therapy clinic in the hospital, and performed on the piano for the young patients in the hospital. Sophie’s Place is a space where these patients can leave their hospital rooms and experience the healing power of music in a setting that feels different from the rest of the hospital.
After his performance, Evan expressed how thankful he was for his recovery and musical gift. He loved the opportunity to give back to the hospital that had taken such good care of him.
Evan’s story was shared by 8 news stations, including KCRA-NBC-3 which ran the story 5 times. The average daily audience for all of the sites who shared his story is over 3 million! It is amazing to see Evan’s desire to pay it forward touch so many lives.
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