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LAKE CHARLES, La. – (KPLC) Almost a year ago Cathy Flowers of Lake Charles, Louisiana was told she would never be able to move or speak again. Flowers suffered a stroke last May and was unable to open her mouth on her own.
“They had no clue,” said her husband Billy. “They had no clue how strong she is. She’s way stronger than I could ever be.”
Billy said whenever his wife would yawn, therapists at TIRR Memorial Hermann in Houston had to place an apparatus in her mouth just to keep her mouth open to brush her teeth or to feed her food. As a musician, he naturally geared towards music therapy as a way to help his wife.
“I really think music therapy is something that bypasses the blocks that strokes cause,” he said. “It gives that person a chance to communicate.”
They began signing up for music therapy sessions at the hospital. The couple said though the hospital offered a limited amount of sessions, they believed music would help.
“I played music pretty much all my life,” said Billy. “We were together in a band, her and three other girls and three other guys. I thought that if we had music therapy, it was just kind of something fun and good for her to do.”
In a video recorded during Cathy’s first music therapy session, Cathy is shown sitting down with therapists as they played Johnny Cash’s “Walk The Line” when all of a sudden, Cathy begins to sing; it was the first time she opened her mouth on her own.
“I had no idea that it might lead to her being able to do what she did for the first time,” he said. “I mean, I was just unbelievably touched and I was glad I had it on video. I’ve watched that video a thousand times.”
According to KPLC, Cathy continue to progress and can now carry on simple conversations.
