🎶 Playing Through the Pain: How One Woman’s Clarinet Became a Surgical Compass

In a London operating room, music met medicine in a moment of breathtaking clarity. Denise Bacon, a 65-year-old retired speech therapist from East Sussex, played her clarinet mid-surgery—while surgeons delicately implanted electrodes deep within her brain. The goal? To alleviate the tremors and stiffness caused by Parkinson’s disease. The method? Letting music guide the scalpel.

🧠 Deep Brain Stimulation Meets Real-Time Feedback

Denise had been living with Parkinson’s since 2014. Over the years, the disease stole her ability to walk, swim, dance—and most heartbreakingly, to play the clarinet. But in October 2025, she underwent a pioneering procedure at King’s College Hospital: Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), a technique that uses electrical impulses to regulate abnormal brain activity.

What made her surgery extraordinary wasn’t just the technology—it was the timing. Denise played her clarinet during the operation, allowing doctors to observe her motor function in real time. As the electrodes activated, her fingers—once stiff and unresponsive—began to move with fluidity. The music returned.

🎵 A Note of Hope

“I hadn’t played for five years,” Denise shared. “But suddenly, my right hand was moving again. I could play.” Her performance wasn’t just symbolic—it was diagnostic. Each note offered feedback, each phrase a measure of progress. By the end of the surgery, Denise had reclaimed not just her music, but a part of herself.

💬 Reclaiming Rhythm, Reclaiming Life

Post-surgery, Denise is already walking more easily. She’s eager to return to swimming, dancing, and—of course—playing music. Her story is a testament to the power of personalized medicine, and to the healing potential of art when paired with science.