Health Story Hub
This five minute video from AMTA music therapy shares Larry’s story, a musician, teacher, father, and husband who lost many functions following a seizure. The video contains an interview with his wife, and board certified music therapist Moreen Bosch, to show how music has helped Larry regain his self-confidence and joy in music. This video could be used to examine the role of arts, specifically music therapy, in the healing process.
Mary Jane is a single mother of a young child with cerebral palsy, seizure disorder, and lung disease. The play portrays her caregiving, both in ordinary times and during a health crisis that eventually takes his life. We see her build a support network, including professional caregivers and others with whom she gives and receives support. She is a fierce advocate for her son and her descriptions of him and her life with him make clear the value of disabled lives.
I plan to use this in class as an example of a caregiver narrative that shows the ways in which family members are impacted by illness and the significance of their support and advocacy. It is a powerful statement about the joy and the pain of caregiving (at one point in the play, Mary Jane states that one of the more useful things someone said to her early on was that there would be good days and bad days). It also portrays ways that our healthcare system and society often fail to support caregivers. There are scenes in which healthcare providers address Mary Jane only as “mom” and the only staff member in the hospital who addresses her by name is a chaplain.