Doctors are often considered an avatar of God in India and rightly so as they leave no stone unturned to make sure a patient returns home healthy. Like this Chinese doctor who wrapped his wedding in 10-minutes to rush back to his hospital and treat the coronavirus patients. Or this Padma Shri recipient doctor who has been treating burn patients for free for 25 years.
However, they also face difficulties when handling a rare medical case. That’s why they often come up with unique ideas to provide relief to their patients like in this case.
Dagmar Turner, 53, a committed violinist, was diagnosed with a large, slow-growing tumour back in 2013. Her tumour was located in the right frontal lobe of her brain, close to the part of her brain responsible for controlling her delicate hand movement essential when playing the violin, reported Mail Online.
However, after taking medical assistance, the mother-of-one underwent radiotherapy, but in vain. Her tumour continued to grow leaving her with the only option to get it removed surgically. A musician by profession, Dagmar was worried about the fact that even the slightest mistake would cost her abilities to play the instrument ever again.
Hence to make sure that no part of her brain responsible for controlling her hand movements and coordination gets inadvertently damaged during the millimetre-precise procedure, the experts came up with a plan. The team of dedicated neurosurgeons decided to wake her up mid-surgery and tell her to play the violin as they removed the tumour, said reports.
Dagmar said:
“The violin is my passion – I’ve been playing since I was 10 years old. The thought of losing my ability to play was heart-breaking but, being a musician himself, Professor Ashkan understood my concerns.”
Dagmar said that before the surgery she had told her surgeon (who holds a degree in music) about her concerns. That’s when they devised the plan. “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,” Dagmar added.
The doctors from a popular hospital in London told her to play scales so that they could identify the areas that were active when she played the violin and leave them unharmed in the six-hour surgery.
“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 per cent of the tumour, including all the areas suspicious of aggressive activity while retaining full function in her left hand,” said one of the surgeons.
Dagmar was overwhelmed by the doctors’ gesture to go out of their way to save her life and her life skills. “Thanks to them I’m hoping to be back with my orchestra very soon,” Dagmar said. Three days after the procedure she was well enough to go home to her family.
Here’s the full video:
Well, it takes hearts like these to understand someone’s emotion and deliver even in crucial situations like these. Kudos to these surgeons, we need more people like them, don’t we?