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Pink Edition
Music therapist brings comfort to breast cancer patients
By Meredith Moss,
Staff Writer
Updated 6:16 PM Monday, October 19, 2009
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This article is part of our month-long focus on breast cancer. To learn more or find ways to help, go to our Pink Edition Page.
Along with the chemotherapy and radiation came Paige Robbins — strumming her guitar and singing “I’ll Fly Away,” “Sound of Silence” or “Man in the Mirror.”
The idea was to use music to brighten the lives of women undergoing breast cancer treatment.
And for many patients, it worked.
“We got comments that the music helped women to remember what it was like to feel happy and hopeful again,” says Robbins, who will receive her master’s degree in music therapy in January and lives in Cincinnati.
The special project, funded by a grant from the Susan G. Komen Foundation, took place at the Brown Cancer Center in Louisville.
“Some found that the music helped ease their fatigue, others found that listening to the CDs from our sessions helped with pain management and sleeping better at night,” Robbins adds.
The project was the brainstorm of Barbara Wheeler, a professor of music therapy at the University of Louisville who has worked with cancer patients for many years. The grant proposed one-on-one music therapy sessions for women undergoing treatment. Participants had input into the type of music they wanted to hear, and were each given a personalized CD containing songs from their sessions.
When Robbins was offered the chance to participate in the summer of 2007, she jumped — even though it meant regular trips from her home in Cincinnati to Louisville.
“It was too important for me to miss, “ says Robbins of the one-year opportunity. “My mother is a breast cancer survivor so I felt I could relate to these women –their feelings, fears, thoughts and challenges,” she explains. “Multicultural music therapy is a special interest of mine, and this project focused on under served and minority women.”
Sessions were most often scheduled when patients were at the cancer center for their chemo or radiation treatments. Sixteen women — ranging in age from 40 to 73 — took part. They came from all walks of life; some were dealing with first-time cancer, other with recurrences.
“I would sing and play the songs on guitar and invite the women to sing along and play instruments too,” explains Robbins. “We would discuss the songs, the memories or feelings connected to the music, and how the songs related to her life.
Robbins was also responsible for producing the individual CD for each patient.
“It was time-consuming, but I could arrange the songs in ways I hoped would be meaningful and moving for each participant,” she adds. “We asked them to track how often they listed and what thoughts or feelings came up.”
Robbins says the requested music covered all genres: country, pop rock, folk, contemporary Christian, spirituals, Motown, holiday, bluegrass, jazz and rap.
Songs she sang ranged from “He Ain’t’ Heavy, He’s My Brother,” to “Mustang Sally.”When one patient received the good news that her tumor had stopped growing, she and Robbins celebrated and gave thanks in their session.
“Another patient was having a really bad day with side effects so the goal that day was to provide music that would comfort and distract her,” remembered Robbins.
The results of the study will soon be published in the International Journal of Integrative Oncology.
Robbins, who hopes to do more work with breast cancer patients in the future, says the experience was very fulfilling for her.
“One patient said she listened to the CDs at home and would use positive imagery to visualize her body fighting the cancer,” said Robbins. “ Another talked about missing the times when she and her husband made music and wrote songs together before she got sick.
“After our sessions they started making music at home again.”
To learn more about music therapy, see www.musictherapy.org
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2440 or MMoss@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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