Life sometimes throws surprises at us, including ones that aren’t so fortunate. But as they say, it’s not about what you go through; it’s about how you handle what you go through.
53-year-old Dagmar Turner from the Isle of Wight, England, of course, wasn’t happy when she was diagnosed with a massive, grade-two, malignant brain tumor following a seizure in 2013. She never thought it’d happen to her. The England resident was a mother, a former management consultant, and would play her violin at symphonies. To have her life halted, or possibly permanently interrupted, due to her diagnosis was a hard pill to swallow.
Then in October of 2019, doctors discovered that her tumor had grown much bigger and was growing at a more rapid pace. For that reason, she elected to have surgery to remove it.
Professor and neurosurgeon at King’s College Hospital, Keyoumars Ashkan, explained the risks of the surgery. Because the tumor was located on the right frontal lobe of her brain, she was warned that she may lose her fine motor skills. In turn, she would possibly struggle with playing the violin.
Dr. Ashkan, who has a degree in music and plays the piano in his spare time, knew how much it would mean to Turner if her fine motor skills could be preserved. So, before his patient’s surgery, he and his team watched Turner’s brain for two hours to see which parts were most active while she played the violin.
He then decided that one way to ensure the motor parts of her brain were not damaged from the procedure was to allow Turner to play her instrument while her tumor was being removed.
“We knew how important the violin is to Dagmar so it was vital that we preserved function in the delicate areas of her brain that allowed her to play. We managed to remove over 90% of the tumor, including all the areas suspicious of aggressive activity while retaining full function in her left hand,” the doctor said.
What the medical team did was open her skull while Turner was asleep. Then right before the tumor removal, Turner was woken up from an anesthetic state, so she could play her violin. She was closely monitored by surgeons, therapists, and anesthetists during the process.
“King’s is one of the largest brain tumor centers in the UK. We perform around 400 resections (tumor removals) each year, which often involves rousing patients to carry out language tests, but this was the first time I’ve had a patient play an instrument.”
The surgery may have been unusual, but it was a success. Turner was over the moon with the end results, and she got to go home just three days after the operation.
“The violin is my passion; I’ve been playing since I was 10 years old,” Turner said. “The thought of losing my ability to play was heart-breaking but, being a musician himself, Professor Ashkan understood my concerns. He and the team at King’s went out of their way to plan the operation—from mapping my brain to planning the position I needed to be in to play. Thanks to them, I’m hoping to be back with my orchestra very soon.”
Dr. Ashkan is no doubt a very caring and empathetic physician. Having people like him in the medical field is exactly what we need.
The video below contains footage of Turner playing her violin mid-surgery if you’re interested in checking it out. (Don’t worry; it’s not graphic and gory!)
