Ben and Me At the age of 65 Ben was diagnosed with a brain tumor and needed to be hospitalized. When he was admitted to St. Michael’s palliative care unit, he did not suffer from pain because it was well controlled. What he did suffer from was lack of stimulation. For this reason, the staff felt music therapy would be beneficial in alleviating his restlessness. The first session with Ben proved to be extremely successful. He was very excited when I entered the room with my guitar and asked him if he would like to sing a song. I quickly found out that Charlie Pride was one of his favorite singers and “The Crystal Chandelier” his all-time favorite song. So this became our theme song. We began and ended each and every session by singing this country song. Ben had a unique and spirited way of singing. He sang with his whole body: raising his chest, swinging his arms, and tapping his feet. His energetic body and boisterous voice were quite contagious and always got everyone in the room involved, even the elderly man in the bed across from him who was hard of hearing. But it didn’t matter how many joined in; you could always hear Ben’s voice above the rest, country twang and all. During one of my visits, Ben asked for my recording called Reminiscence. He wanted to play it when he was alone. He said the music would keep him company, and the familiar songs would cheer him. He also made a special request. He asked if we could record our own duets on a tape during the next visit because he thought “We sound awfully good together.” I agreed wholeheartedly, and Ben proceeded to call and ask his daughter to buy a blank tape for our recording. Ben was thrilled, and I must admit that I too felt an excited anticipation of our next therapy visit together. That next week when I came on the unit, I was thinking of the songs Ben and I would record together. In my excitement I walked directly to his room, bypassing the nurses station where I normally go to find out about the patients and their status. I looked in Ben’s room and found an empty bed. He had died. I felt a pang of sadness. I wasn’t ready for Ben to die. I would dearly miss singing “The Crystal Chandelier” and making that recording of our duets. I would miss this man’s boisterous singing and joyful laughter. After a few moments I walked back to the nurses station. I asked one of the nurses about Ben’s death. “He died peacefully,” she said. “It was as if he knew he was going to die. He called his wife and told her he loved her, and then he turned on your tape and listened to the music. A few hours later he died.”