Teen Transplant Patient Performs Concert At Jackson
Michael Gardner, 14, has found passion and peace in playing his ukulele while he waits for a second lifesaving multivisceral transplant in the pediatric intensive care unit at Holtz Children’s Hospital at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center.
The boy, who also suffers from Asperger’s syndrome, takes daily music therapy lessons, which have helped him become more expressive and open with therapists. He often sings and plays for his parents and medical team.
“Music therapy reaches him where medicine can’t,” said Keith Gardner, Michael’s father. “It touches his soul. It keeps him entertained and it transports him to a peaceful place.”
Michael was born with gastroschisis, a birth defect in which the intestines develop outside of the abdominal wall. Doctors performed surgery immediately after birth, and he managed to live well for many years.
In 2012, Michael began to have complications. Doctors determined that he was in need of new intestines, a pancreas, and a liver. After a two-year wait on the transplant list, Michael learned a match had been found.
“Michael is a very sensitive kid,” Keith said. “The day we got the call, he got very emotional and cried thinking about his donor and their family.”
In November 2014, doctors from the Miami Transplant Institute performed the transplant surgery at Jackson Memorial Hospital. However, just two months after the operation, Michael’s body began rejecting the new organs. Doctors determined he needed a second transplant surgery – another new liver, pancreas, and intestines, as well as an abdominal wall.
“Michael was only supposed to live up to age 2,” said Debbie Gardner, Michael’s mother. “He will soon turn 15.”
During his stay at Holtz Children’s, Michael has been working with music therapist, Stephanie Epstein.
Recently, Stephanie gave Michael a ukulele from the Ukulele Kids Club, Inc., a non-profit organization that donates the instruments to children’s hospitals nationwide.
Michael decided he wanted to share his musical talents with his medical team, so his caregivers helped him plan an outdoor concert.
On a recent Friday afternoon in Alamo Park at Jackson Memorial Hospital, Michael and Stephanie played the ukulele and sang together in front of a crowd of his doctors, nurses, therapists, and other supporters. They cheered for him, sang along, and even asked for his autograph.
It was truly a dream come true.