'Brought tears to my eyes': Intubated COVID patient plays violin for hospital staff; watch

A very touching video which has surfaced on the internet shows a COVID-19 patient named Grover Wilhelmsen in the ICU of McKay-Dee Hospital, playing violin for the staff. The video shows the patient sitting on his ICU bed, with a lot of equipment surrounding him, as he plays melodious tunes on his instrument. Uploaded on Youtube channel ‘Intermountain Healthcare’, the description of the video says that the violinist's songs also include the Tennessee Waltz and church hymns.

A way to show appreciation

This was Wilhelmsen’s gesture of giving back something to his caregivers at the hospital. As per the press release, he asked if he could play the violin in order to lift their spirits. As he couldn’t speak due to the intubation, he decided to show his appreciation through the instrument. His nurse, Ciara Sase said, “He was intubated and unable to talk, but I knew from the other nurses that he’s a retired orchestra teacher. He’s been playing and teaching his entire life”. The nurse said that the man was trying to communicate with her on a piece of paper and he told her about his story with music and how he gets happy with it. She said, “Toward the middle of my shift he wrote, ‘You know, I really want to play here at the hospital. What do you think about my wife bringing in my violin and viola?”. 

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(Ciara Sase, RN, with Grover Wilhelmsen. Image Credits: Intermountainhealtchare.org)

(Caregivers listen to Grover play while in McKay Dee's ICU. Image Credits: Intermountainhealthcare.org)

As per the press release, Wilhelmsen’s wife Diana brought both his violin and viola to the hospital. She also got some music books for him. Being happy on seeing his instrument, the man played for hours for two days. Ciara said that ICU had glass doors, so she turned on her Vocera so that all her colleagues could listen. She said, “It brought tears to my eyes. For all the staff to see a patient doing this while intubated was unbelievable. Even though he was so sick, he was still able to push through. You could see how much it meant to him. Playing kind of helped to soothe his nerves and brought him back to the moment”. After his performance, Ciara told him that the hospital staff was very thankful to him. 

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The man spent more than a month battling the deadly virus. He was recently discharged from the hospital and taken to a long-term acute care facility, where he can recover. Diana, his wife, says he is currently too weak to play the instrument but once he recovers he will return to his passion.

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(Image Credits: Youtube/IntermountainHealthcare)