A Shinedown fan recalls how music therapy changed his life for the better after suffering a stroke.
Photo courtesy of Shinedown.
Music therapy has been researched for years, and recently, there’s been a heavier spotlight on the benefits that come from music therapy and its positive effect on stroke victims. In fact, the rock band Shinedown shares a powerful story of one of their fans who had suffered a stroke. The accounts from his close friends and family have impacted not only the band but the fanbase as well.
Brandon Dumais was a healthy 30-year-old who was active and well respected and loved. Just a day after Christmas, Brandon unexpectedly suffered a stroke and his family members recall how hard that time period was for them. His father, Kevin Dumais, speaks about the experience and how it was a life-changing event for him. Kevin says, “His face was drooped on one side and I could see his arm down a little bit. That night was the worst night of my life."
From a healthy and active young adult, you wouldn’t expect Brandon to have been the victim of a stroke. In fact, he spent several weeks at the hospital in a medically induced coma. It was a hard situation for Brandon and his family, but eventually, he began to recover. What was striking about his recovery is that music became a large part of feeling better for Brandon.
Many of the staff at Massachusetts General Hospital saw the progress that Brandon was making and his special connection to the band Shinedown during his time in recovery. With the power of music, he slowly began to gain his speech skills back through therapy. Brandon could be heard singing along to one of his favorite band's music. Shinedown became a really important part of his recovery and it was heartwarming for not only staff to see him but his family as well.
A nurse witnessed the early stages of Brandon’s recovery and the special connection he had to Shinedown’s music. The nurse was the one to share his story and one of the band members actually got ahold of Brandon by sending a personal video message. His father Kevin recalls when the staff showed Brandon the video that Shinedown had sent him. “They played it. Brandon was, like, you could see it in his face, ecstatic and happy," said Kevin Dumais. The family was able to witness the special connection Brandon had to Shinedown’s music and it was a wonderful thing for this family to share a moment like this with Brandon. In fact, Brandon’s girlfriend, who wasn’t known to the family until this happened, was able to share and witness the happiness of Brandon and his family.
After Shinedown was made aware of Brandon’s situation, they were more than willing to donate to the family’s recovery fund. As Brandon recovered in the hospital from the stroke that changed his life, Shinedown’s lead singer Brent Smith, actually stepped up and donated to the family’s fund. The total donated by Smith was $10,000 and was made public on their GoFundMe page. "Any way we can support and help him get back on his feet. We want to do that,” Smith said. All of the proceeds donated by Smith will go directly to the family’s medical bills.
"I just fell to tears. I was just emotionally, like 'thank you,” father Kevin Dumais said. “And all our friends and all our family have come out and helped and made donations in all kinds of ways."
Brandon’s recovery isn’t the only successful music therapy story out there. There has been countless research on the topic of how music therapy can actually help stroke victims. So what exactly is music therapy?
Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT) is the therapeutic use of music applied to cognitive, sensory, and motor dysfunctions due to a neurological dysfunction or diagnosis. This type of therapy uses rhythm and beats to retrain the brain. The process of rewiring the brain is formally known as neuroplasticity.
NMT specifically targets hemispatial neglect and uses active performance exercises on musical instruments that are structured in time, tempo, and rhythm. Another way that NMT is used is with receptive music listening in order to stimulate the hemispheric brain. Research data shows the beneficial effects of musical stimulation for overcoming visual neglect as a result of hemispheric lesions caused by a stroke.
Researchers have noted that daily interaction with music and music therapeutic tools can really cause an important difference in the length and quality of recovery in stroke victims. Not only does it help with speech as it did for Brandon, but with other functions that include walking, and cognitive activities.
Some of the major benefits of music therapy stroke victims receive from music therapy are:
Music has been shown to help improve motor skills because there is a strong link between music and movement. Whenever you play music, it engages the part of your brain that is responsible for movement. Music is also considered a stimulus, so regardless it’ll definitely stimulate your brain.
Language and communication skills are sometimes affected by a stroke. It occurs when the left side of the brain has been attacked or disrupted. The condition that impairs one's ability to produce or understand speech is formally known as aphasia, and it’s common among stroke survivors.
Alongside speech, movement, and mood, NMT can help improve cognitive functions as well. Studies done on NMT and cognitive functions found that listening to music for one hour each day can improve verbal memory and attention. The reason that there are more studies being conducted on NMT is because of the accessibility it offers, and if it’s shown to help cognitive functions like verbal memory and attention span, then it’s worth giving NMT a shot.
Emotional and behavioral changes are common among stroke victims, It can look different for every person, but it is shown to affect the majority of victims. A clinical trial analyzed the efficiency of how music therapy aids stroke survivors to improve their overall mood. Music therapy can improve the quality of life and mood more than the traditional tactics used in recovering from a stroke.
Similarly to boosting recovery time, mass practice, or the repetition of a certain activity to stimulate the brain can promote a powerful mechanism for recovery. The more you perform a specific action, the more likely your brain will begin to rewire itself and finally use a different part of the brain rather than using the damaged part of the brain.
The human brain can rewire itself and that’s why NMT can play a key role in your recovery process.
There are countless other benefits that music therapy can help stroke victims with. If you want to learn more about those specific benefits, check out our article about how NMT or Neurological Music Therapy can help stroke victims in a positive way.
Brandon Dumais, while a healthy and active 30-year-old, became a victim of a stroke but music helped his recovery become an easier and much more motivating process. Perhaps learning more about the effects of music and stroke victim recovery can become something that more people talk about. What part of this story was inspirational to you?
