Improving Quality of Life of an Adolescent Cancer Patient Throughout his Treatment Journey

Isaac was diagnosed with leukemia after a hemorrhage in October 2018. He was referred to music therapy while he was in the ICU for family support, as they thought he might be heading toward end of life. Music Therapy played his favorite music at his bedside, while he was non-responsive and his family sat at his side holding his hand, singing along, and providing positive encouragement. Isaac slowly began to recover and moved to the neuro-trauma unit so he could begin therapies to regain his functioning back. His first words after his hemorrhage were the lyrics to Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”. Music Therapy began co-treating with speech therapy, using music and singing to help him continue to re-learn to talk! This video is shortly after his first words. Once Isaac’s speech had fully recovered he began to talk with me about the meaningfulness of his favorite songs, processing his emotions and this traumatic experience that he had been through. This very naturally led into songwriting, my favorite intervention! Isaac wrote the lyrics in 30 minutes, it poured out of him. He wrote about how he had to “keep his chin up” and “there’s always a reason to be up”. For the remainder of his hospital stay after this, Isaac would use music as a way to relax if he was having a bad day, socialize if he was feeling lonely or isolated, or come to Sophie’s Place if he needed a change of scenery. Isaac was in the hospital for 248 days and we had over 100 music therapy sessions in that time. To celebrate discharging from the hospital, his mom wrote him a special song with music therapy. She rewrote the words to “I’ll Stand By You” to reflect their experience in the hospital and give him a gift. She helped record the song in Sophie’s Place and played it for him as a surprise as he walked out of the hospital for the first time in almost a year.

Isaac has continued to come to the hospital for appointments and occasional inpatient stays. The second video is his most recent hospitalization using the same song years later with different goals. He continues to have music as an important part of his life, singing in his school musicals and learning to play the guitar. His mom often shares that music therapy is the one consistent thing he has had throughout his entire journey, something he can always count on.