That’s REALLY Metal! Florida Man Plays Guitar Undergoing Brain Surgery
Monday’s Florida Man story told us of a guy who walked for a mile with a bullet in his head to get help. This morning, Florida Man is asked to play guitar – DURING BRAIN SURGERY!
FLORIDA MAN STRIKES AGAIN!
DATELINE – Miami. Specifically, the University of Miami’s Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and the saga of Florida Man Christian Nolen.
Now, yesterday we were talking about, how you may think you’re tough, but you’re not as tough as Florida Man walking a mile to get help with a bullet in your head tough.
Well you may think you’re metal, but I don’t think you’re Florida Man Metal, when you hear the story of what Christian went through.
TV AUDIO – It’s an unusually interesting sight. Christian Nolen is playing for an audience, but the ones listening are a team of doctors, nurses and techs operating on his brain while he’s awake.
It was just out of this world. To just wake up and have people actively working inside of your head is kind of an insane feeling to end up here.
The professional guitar player first noticed an issue after getting knocked around at a show, and I had lost feelings in my whole left side from the waist up, like I wasn’t able to move my arm. My face began to drag.
And he ended up in the care of Dr. Ricardo Komotar, a neurosurgeon and the director of the brain tumor program at the University of Miami. And that’s what Nolen had, a tumor. And Dr. Komotar says he needed an awake craniotomy.
These types of tumors, if you don’t have the ability to remove the tumor with the patient awake, actually become much more dangerous.
Nolen underwent the two hour procedure, asleep for the beginning, asleep for the end, but awake and on display for some key moments.
Having the patient awake and playing guitar while we take out the tumor allows us to be as aggressive as possible, yet still maintain his quality of life and his manual dexterity.
Dr. Komotar, stressing this brain surgery is made possible by everyone who pulls together to make this safe and successful. The surgeon is only one small part of this entire procedure. It’s not possible without amazing neuro anesthesiologists, nurses, techs, residents, fellows, neurooncologists, radiation oncologists. It’s the entire comprehensive brain tumor program that I’m most amazed about.
As for Nolen, he’s back doing what he loves the most, playing guitar outside of the or being able to go to the gym and be active again, which is like a big part of my life. It’s been very amazing. Like the recovery.
Very amazing, to say the least. That audio, by the way, courtesy of WSVN TV in Florida.
The music Nolen was playing
The music that he was playing, by the way, was System of a Down and Deftones.
And again, you may think you’re metal, but you’re not nearly as medal is a guy who’s being awakened during brain surgery and say, go ahead, give us a couple of chords.
MORE EPISODES OF FLORIDA MAN STRIKES AGAIN
Top 5 “Florida Man Strikes Again” Stories For December 2023
