THE BABY BEAT – August 1, 2007 D. Gary Benfield, M.D. A ...

1 THE BABY BEAT August 1, 2007 D. Gary Benfield, A bolt of lightning changed this man s life forever One afternoon in 1994, Tony Cicoria, 42, was attending a family gathering at a lakeside pavilion in upstate New York. He noticed a few storm clouds gathering; it looked like rain. A former college football player who had become a highly-regarded orthopedic surgeon in a small city nearby, Cicoria was using a pay phone outside the pavilion when a flash of lightning came out of the phone, hitting Cicoria in the face. He remembers flying backward, then forward, above the ground.

2 Bewildered, he looked around. He saw his own body on the ground. A woman who had been waiting to use the phone was positioned over his body, giving it CPR. Surrounded by a bluish white light, Cicoria floated up some stairs and felt an enormous feeling of well-being and peace. The highest and lowest points of his life raced by. Then, as he was saying to himself, This is the most glorious feeling I have ever had, slam! He was back in his own body. He knew he was back because he felt pain from the burns on his face and on his left foot, where the lightning had exited his body.

3 He wanted to go back, he wanted to tell the woman to stop giving him CPR, to let him go. But it was too late. He was now among the living. The police came and wanted to call an ambulance, but Cocoria refused. His family helped him into their car and took him home. Cicoria saw his doctor and consulted a neurologist. Except for a temporary problem with his memory, all of their tests came back normal. And when his energy returned a couple of weeks later, he went back to work. His surgical skills were as good as ever. Life had seemingly returned to normal when suddenly, over several days, he was filled with a strong desire to listen to classical piano music.

4 This was completely out of keeping with anything in his past. Actually, he had preferred listening to rock and roll. Cicoria began to buy classical recordings especially music by Chopin - and felt a strong desire to play them himself. So he borrowed a piano, ordered some sheet music, and started teaching himself how to play. But then, Cocoria started to hear music in his THE BABY BEAT August 1, 2007 A bolt of lightning changed this man s life forever 2 head. The first time, it was in a dream, he said. I was in a tux, onstage; I was playing something I had written.

5 I woke up, startled, and the music was still in my head. I jumped out of bed and started trying to write it down as much of it as I could remember. But I hardly knew how to write the notes for what I heard. Now, whenever he sat down at the piano to learn how to play Chopin, his own music would come to mind and try to take over. It had a very strong presence, he said. It was a terrible struggle, trying to learn Chopin while getting my own music down on paper. He would get up at four in the morning and play till he went to work, and when he got home from work he was at the piano all evening.

6 My wife was not really pleased, he said. I was possessed. Cicoria continued to work on his piano technique and his compositions. He also traveled to concerts by his favorite performers. He got divorced in 2004, the same year he had a nearly fatal motorcycle accident. His Harley was struck by another vehicle and he was found unconscious in a ditch, with broken bones, a ruptured spleen, a perforated lung, cardiac contusions, and, despite his helmet, head injuries. But he made a complete recovery and was back at work in two months. Neither the accident, nor his head injury, nor his divorce affected his passion for playing and composing music.

7 Last spring, Cicoria debuted as a performer at a retreat for music students, gifted amateurs and professionals. He prepared two pieces for his concert: Chopin s B-flat Minor Scherzo; and his own composition, which he called Rhapsody, Opus 1. His playing and his story electrified everyone at the retreat, an astounding feat for someone with virtually no musical background who, at 42, had taught himself how to play and compose music. Oliver Sacks, best-selling author and noted neurologist, wrote the original version of this story in last week s edition of The New Yorker.

8 At the time of Cicoria s lightning strike, Sacks believes he suffered a cardiac arrest, during which he had both a near-death experience and an out-of-body experience. He also believes that Cicoria s recovery was not as complete as it seemed: his brain was still reacting to the original insult and reorganizing itself during the six to seven weeks that elapsed before he developed the sudden interest in classical music. THE BABY BEAT August 1, 2007 A bolt of lightning changed this man s life forever 3 Cicoria feels that he is a different person now musically, emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually.

9 So when Sacks recently suggested it might be interesting to further investigate the neurologic basis for Cicoria s sudden interest in classical music using technology that was not available some 13 years ago, Cicoria agreed. But after thinking it over for a few moments, he reconsidered. Perhaps it s best to let things be, he said. A further thought: More than 1,000 people each year are struck by lightning in the United States. Of these, 80 percent are male, some 20 percent die immediately, and 70 percent of survivors experience residual effects, most commonly affecting the brain.

10 These effects can develop slowly, becoming apparent much later. Florida has twice as many deaths and injuries from lightning as any other state, but Ohio still ranks in the top ten. Typically, most casualties occur on Sunday afternoon, between noon and 4 , and reach their peak in July. When you hear thunder, you are already within range of the next ground strike. To avoid being struck by lightning , you should seek shelter enclosed buildings and a car or bus are some of the best places. Isolated trees, telephone booths, and open structures like gazebos or porches are some of the poorest shelters.