A Musical Wish

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It’s been a good week for Mike.

Mike is a patient of mine. Yes, this is his real name. He’s been telling me for a while that I need to blog about him.

I met Mike just after Christmas. He had been dealing with a stuffy nose all winter, and despite repeated trips to the doctor and courses of antibiotics, it didn’t seem to get better. Finally, a CT scan showed not a sinus infection, but a large tumor. Mike was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma the weekend after Christmas. What a present!

Mike is a really cool kid. He plays guitar. No... I play guitar. Mike performs and makes records. In fact, when we told him he would have to get some of his chemotherapy as an inpatient, his first question was whether he was allowed to bring his guitar with him. I’ll never forget the concert he put on in his room during his second cycle of chemo.




This is a video of Mike’s band Monday’s Riot. Mike is the one with long hair singing and playing guitar.

Mike also has a band called The Grenaders, and you can hear their music here. Download whatever you want. Mike strongly believes all music should be free.

So why has this been a good week for Mike? Well, today Dr. Fernanda Arnaldez and I, who take care of Mike together, had the pleasure of showing him his MRI from last week (after 13 weeks of chemotherapy). There is no sign of his tumor anymore! He was giddy with excitement when he saw the size of his tumor in December and then how normal his scan is today.

Almost as exciting as that was the phone call he received earlier this week. Make-a-Wish came through for him. Mike’s wish was to have someone special produce and album for him. An album of his music. Mike made a wish and the wish is coming true. Todd Rundgren is going to produce his album!

It sure has been a very good week for Mike.

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