Many videos are circulating on social media, some hilarious, some sad, and others heartbreaking. On the internet, one such heartwarming video has gone viral. In a YouTube video, a brain tumor patient plays guitar while undergoing awake craniotomy surgery.
Robert Alvarez, a brain tumor survivor, and Sujit Prabhu, M.D., a neurosurgeon, discuss why and how Robert played the guitar throughout his operation for a grade II astrocytoma. At MD Anderson, it was the first time a patient with a brain tumor played a musical instrument during an awake craniotomy.
In 2013, when Robert Alvarez was diagnosed with a low-grade insular brain tumor, he decided to wait and hope for the best.
“The doctors warned me that the operation could paralyze me,” Robert recalls. He noted that his migraines and clumsiness were getting worse, but that the symptoms were still bearable. Robert, a 19-year-old athlete, and musician believed that the dangers of surgery outweighed the hazards of living with a brain tumor.
“I just hoped it wouldn’t grow and tried to be careful,” he tells. Robert traveled from San Antonio to Chicago after high school to pursue a music career and enroll in audio engineering school. Meanwhile, his mother began looking for future neurosurgeons and hospitals.