The Dedication

by | Oct 22, 2014 | Chordoma Blog

Today my family and the music therapy staff of Mount Sinai Beth Israel officially dedicated Tyler’s Room. We’ve been looking forward to this moment since February 2013, and it was deeply emotional and deeply gratifying to mark this occasion with the friends and family who have supported us. Dr. Joanne Loewy, Dr. Edward Conway Jr. and John Mondanaro spoke movingly and music therapists Wen Chang-Lit and Robin “Mitch” Mitchell showed us the top-notch recording and DJing equipment and software that patients will use. It wasn’t on the program, but my father and I couldn’t resist sitting down with Mitch and Dr. Loewy to jam for a couple of minutes after we’d cut the ribbon. Thanks again to the hundreds of friends and supporters who’ve helped us get to this point. We have a lot to be proud of and a lot of work to do. My remarks from this afternoon: “A memory is like a song – or maybe a song is like a memory. It can stay with you forever even if you’ve experienced it just once. It can give you encouragement, inspiration, comfort, strength and love, and it’s always yours but it exists to be shared. Sharing that piece of music or that treasured memory only adds to the joy it brings. My family started this project because we wanted to share the memory of someone who lived for music – and who through music lives for us still. My brother Tyler was a music lover all his life, passionate about hearing, making and sharing music. Because music is also a way of communicating that makes our...