On December 2, 1982, Dr. Barney Clark received the world’s first artificial heart, named the Jarvik-7 after its inventor. Doctors and scientists had been working for years to develop this technology, but they did not even know if Clark would survive the surgery or how successful his life would be afterward. While he did survive the surgery and the heart functioned successfully, Clark passed away 112 days later from an infection. Despite this, Clark’s surgery paved the way for much more successful and long-lasting artificial hearts. Nowadays, patients can live for many years with an artificial heart before getting a heart transplant. Clark and his doctors led to a breakthrough in modern medicine that has saved countless lives.
According to a New York Times article published four days after the surgery, Clark listened to a recording of Handel’s Messiah as he recovered in the hospital. While this article does not describe exactly why he chose this piece, it describes how the piece brought him comfort through this surgery. Being in such a perilous state, it is likely that such a beautiful and meaningful piece helped him feel at ease. Unfortunately, we know now that after this article, the rest of Clark’s life was fairly short and difficult, as he battled and eventually succumbed to infections. However, the article offers glimpses of hope, such as the idea that “The day will come when you are standing in a grocery line and not know that the person next to you is equipped with an artificial heart”. While artificial hearts are still not recommended to replace transplants and do not work for everyone, they have improved and lengthened many people’s lives by giving them a functioning heart while they wait for a transplant.
Beyond artificial hearts, there is promising research that indicates that music may have healing effects for many different types of patients. According to an NIH study, “it is well known that music may not only improve quality of life but also effect changes in heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV)” In this study, they played several relaxing pieces of music, including a few by Handel, and observed lowered heart rates and less anxiety in many patients. When I am feeling stressed or overwhelmed, I often listen to my favorite pieces of music and it calms me down. While not all people enjoy classical music, it would be difficult to find a person who does not find joy from any musical style. When the world gets overwhelming, we let ourselves get absorbed by the melodies and harmonies, and we let the music heal us.