The stroke survivor helps other patients feel calmer and less alone through the power of music.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — At the Novant Health Cancer Center, before the appointments, before the scans, and before some patients hear life-changing news, they hear Tom Deaton.
Deaton, a Navy veteran, volunteers at the cancer center by playing songs for patients and families walking through some of the hardest moments of their lives.
He first taught himself how to play guitar while stationed in Morocco decades ago. At the time, music was simply something he enjoyed. Now, he says, it has become something he shares with others.
“I asked her what kind of music she wanted,” Deaton recalled about one patient. “And she looked at me with tears in her eyes and she said, ‘You just made my day.’ And that did it for me.”
Deaton started volunteering at the hospital after losing his job in 2009. One day, he brought along his guitar. What many patients may not realize is Deaton understands the fear and uncertainty that can come with hospitals firsthand.
“I’ve been on death’s door,” he said.
Deaton survived a stroke and later underwent a procedure where doctors stopped and restarted his heart to restore its rhythm.
“It was pretty scary,” he said.
Now, he spends his days trying to make a frightening place feel a little less overwhelming.
Jeremy Fox, an oncology counselor at the cancer center, says music can have a powerful emotional impact on patients.
“Music helps to settle our nervous system,” Fox said. “It’s like putting the brakes on our nervous system and helping to lower stress.”
Fox says hearing Deaton perform when patients first arrive and again before they leave can help reduce anxiety during emotionally difficult visits.
“Hearing Tom playing right when they come in helps to settle the system,” Fox said.
Deaton says every person he sings for becomes part of his family.
And somewhere between the guitar chords, the hospital hallways and the hardest days in people’s lives, he hopes to leave patients with something bigger than music.
“We don’t need to hate one another because we’re Republican or Democrat or Jewish or Muslim or black or white,” Deaton said. “We just need to love. We’re all God’s children, you know. And we’ll never get it right until we start loving one another.”
A message to strike a chord in all of us.
