Episode 04: CNNi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJGMTYmf8GU
March 29, 2018
VAUSE: So, can you hear that sound? That's the beating heart of A.J. Carter. Almost four years ago, we was born with a profound birth defect. Doctors thought he would not survive more than a few hours, but his heart keep beating. And so, his dad, Artrez that beating heart is the baseline to hope.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I really hope to see the day you start giggling from your mothers tickling but your first birthday was the worthiest day, I won't lie.
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VAUSE: So, Atrez chose to rap to son's beating heart. While others like Geraldine Hampton, before she died from cancer. Beating heartbeat was recorded and then mixed with the hymn “I’ll Fly Away.”
And then, there's 15 year old, Kylie Wright. She died from a brain tumor last year, but on a months before her death, she recorded her heartbeat. The heartbeats of a mom, dad and brother, all mixed together, as she saying The Best Day by Taylor Swift.
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KYLIE Wright, died from a brain tumor: “I know, you're not scared of anything at all. Don't know if Snow White house is near or far away. But I know why I had the day with you today.”
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VAUSE: Nothing can heal the grieving heart of a parents whose lost the child but it seems there is comfort and solace to hear the ones healthy beating heart of that child long after they gone. Brian Schreck is a music therapist at the Norton Cancer Institute in Louisville, Kentucky. Brian is the man behind the very emotional music.
Brian, thank you so much for being with us. Just tell us how this all began, because I think it began with a mother want o telling you that she was worried that she wouldn't forget the sound of her daughter's voice, and her daughter was terminally ill.
BRIAN SCHRECK, MUSIC THERAPIST, NORTON CANCER INSTITUTE, LOUISVILLE: Yes, I started recording a lots of things. So, anything that was working where there was a voice, or a laugh, or anything that we could use that would help from -- you know, create any kind of music with. There would be a nice memory for anyone to listen to in the family.
VAUSE: Now, how just seem so special though? And when you look at to parents who have a some of this ill child, it almost seems that these heartbeat recordings are proof of existence -- you know, a mark that left behind of a life cut short.
SCHRECK: Exactly right, and it's something that is still alive and in the symbol of love that's always there and it's never ending and it's forever. So, I think, there is something that, that is continuous about it that is surely lovely.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So hard it is that's leave somebody. We're doing things that make us happy because you need to live until you die.
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SCHRECK: The choice of music is sometimes the most important part of this whole process. And to me, it’s a process it's not exactly a product. So, it can be this ongoing thing that we can work on together. And along with the therapeutic relationship, I think this could really help people.
VAUSE: OK, so you started out with terminally ill children which must been very difficult to work with -- you know, in very emotional, are you now working with all of patients. Here's a part of a clip from a movie that you're making.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So we're just going, we can put it right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, right there. So that's me?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You see my man, look like a healthy. Take that healthy beat makes of (INAUDIBLE).
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VAUSE: Just explain the process here technically. How do you actually go about doing what you do?
[02:55:01] SCHRECK: So, I have two different stethoscopes. This one that I created that this uses a natural acoustic stethoscope. And then, I just put a lavalier microphone inside. And then, the other one is a really fancy digital stethoscope, both of these are plug into my computer. Once I have the cleanest cuts of bits of everything, so once I have the cleanest four to five or six bits in a row, then I can loop that. And then on top of that, we can create anything.
VAUSE: It must be very sweet for the family to listen to these heartbeat songs.
SCHRECK: It can be, but I really try to figure out ways to make it something that is beautiful, and alive, and joyful. I want them to want to listen to it, and I want it to break their heart every time that they pull it out.
VAUSE: And what about the emotions that you experience? Once the hear song is finished, and then that person dies, somebody who you spent so much time with. And then, this process which is very personal and very emotional. And then that person is no longer there.
SCHRECK: What I love is that I still have that record as well. So, I can visit them whenever I want. And when I'm physically recording over their heartbeat, I'm feeling alive with them. And I feel like it's all about them, and I’m in the background, and it's, it's really about them. And I want them to feel the same love that I have for them as well.
VAUSE: Well, it's a beautiful memory I guess too, so many people to have, and that's a beautiful thing to this. So, Brian, thank you. Thanks so much being with us.
SCHRECK: Well, I'm grateful. Thank you.
SESAY: So many people doing so many good things.
VAUSE: I see a nice change to see some good people doing good work.
SESAY: Yes, really. You've been watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles, I am Isha Sesay.