19-year-old Washington woman gets brain surgery in Seattle – National

A 19-year-old woman recently sang during a brain operation while doctors were trying to remove a tumor that prevented her from singing.

Kira Iaconetti said she had been playing and singing since she was six, calling it "one of the things I'm good at," but about four years ago she started to forget the words and to sing falsely.

"Anyway, it looks like a switch in my brain and suddenly I'm deaf, I can not sing, I can not process the words at the same time as the music," she says. in a video published by the Seattle Children's Hospital.

Iaconetti told Global News that she noticed him one day while doing karaoke at home and that she felt she had "a tiny tip in the head" and that she could not sing, follow the music or remember the word.

READ MORE: Melody Benefits: Kelowna voice therapy program uses singing to reinforce diminishing voices

She said that this had begun to affect her personality, making her irritable and "more and more paranoid," so she decided that she needed to consult a neurologist.

"We had the impression that nothing was coming out right, nothing was coming out in the right," she said.

"It was like I was not doing anything right and others were hearing it or not, I was doing it and it was driving me crazy.

After a visit to the doctor, it was determined that she was suffering from seizures, but since they were often triggered only by music, they were difficult to pin down.

According to Seattle Children's Hospital, the cause was unknown until a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) test showed it was a marble-sized mass in the temporal lobe right of his brain.

Dr. Jason Hauptman, a neurosurgeon at the hospital, said it was a musicogenic epilepsy.

"These fits are triggered by listening to music or singing, which is an unfortunate problem for Kira because she is an interpreter who likes to sing," said Hauptman.

The mass was a calcified tumor and pressed against his auditory cortex, explains Hauptman, which could explain the crises that occurred during his performances.

READ MORE: Nurse 'Hero' gives Toyota a new truck after crossing California's wildfire to evacuate the hospital – twice

The hospital said the epilepsy team was working to find a way to remove the tumor without compromising Iaconetti's ability to sing.

"It's a cruel and unhealthy joke that this happens where I'm passionate," Iaconetti said.

"It could affect my voice permanently and, as Dr. Hauptman knew how important it was for me to continue singing and playing, he wanted to be very careful in removing my tumor. He did not want to interfere with my ability to sing. "

The team therefore decided to wake her during the operation and perform musical tasks while the doctors mapped the areas of her brain used. In doing so, Hauptman would be able to avoid areas of the brain that allowed him to produce and interpret music.

She told Global News that, even though she had been told that she might only remember a few things about the surgery, she remembered the entire period during which the doctors I had woken up.

"I remember following all the rhythms and tones I had to do.I remember singing the song twice.The second time they sang with me and it was really cool to hear and experiment with my brain there, "she says. .

The day after her first night at the USI, a music therapist came in and trained to sing for a camera, then sang for the camera.

When asked how she felt about being able to perform again, Iaconetti said that she still did not feel that her singing ability was fully back.

READ MORE: Kingston family organizes fundraiser for hospital that saved baby's life

"I still do not think I feel 100% confident in musicals, but maybe I was in the mix," she said.

As a result, she says she does it slowly and has not had epileptic seizures since then, she always feels like she wants to succeed.

Despite this, she says she is always grateful to the hospital team for helping her, and now plans to go step by step to get back into the world of music.