The Musical Rhythm of the Heart  

The month of February is recognized as Congenital Heart Defect Awareness month and tonight’s story highlights a young man whose life is a testament to resilience and the uplifting power of music. Despite being born with a congenital heart defect, Aiden Aranda has forged his path as a gifted musician, self-taught and versatile in playing multiple instruments. Here’s this week’s Look on the Bright Side.

 

Sabreena Daly, Reporting

The impact of music resonates universally, touching the depths of every soul that consumes it. Though the influence of music extends to all, only a select few possess the artistry to convey its enchantment.

 

Aiden Aranda, Musician

“Since I was five years old, I have been around music and playing music. The instruments that I can play are guitar, drums, any variety, the recorder, the flute, the steel pan, which is my main instrument. And I’m learning to play the sax, the clarinet, and the bass guitar.”

 

 

 

 

Sixteen-year-old Aiden Aranda is a talented musician who realized early on that he had a special bond with music. He kicked off his musical journey at the age of five with the steel pan and has since taught himself to play several other instruments. Like many musicians, he believes that music originates from the rhythm of his heart.

 

Aiden Aranda

“That boop boop sound, music is attached to it. The heart is attached to music in a very passionate way because it depends on how a person feels. The genre of music they listen to, it depends on, like, their emotional status.”

 

 

The heartbeat and music share an innate connection, a rhythmic symphony that taps into the pulse of our emotions. In Aranda’s case, the heart’s connection to music is much more personal. His mother Indira Bartley would know.

 

 

 

Indira Bartley, Mother

“I took him to the pediatrician and what happened was the doctor looked at me and said miss Bartley, what kind of medication is your baby on? I said medication for what doc? He said don’t you know that your baby has a hole in his heart?”

 

 

 

 

The medical prognosis for someone born with a congenital heart defect is typically bleak, but Aiden, with the support of his family, medical professionals and The Gift of Life Foundation, underwent two surgeries and an open-heart procedure to beat the odds at the age of two.

 

 

Indira Bartley

“It was two days after his second birthday. He  had his first open heart surgery for eight hours. The doctor came and he looked at me and he said, Miss Bartley, we need to call the priest. And I asked him, call the priest for what?  He said the surgery did not help the baby. He said, we need to pray for him because we don’t know if he’s gonna make it out for the night. I got up in that hospital bed and I started talking in plain English. I said, God, you did not bring me here for this. You took me away from all my family and all my friends to kill my baby when I have no support. And I said, I claim the life of my baby in the name of Jesus Christ.”

 

Since then, Aranda has carried on as a normal teenager but with stents in his heart to stay alive. In 2020, he was taken to the Cayman Islands to replace the tubular support that collapsed and, as recent as 2021, another operation was done to balloon that stent again.

Indira Bartley

“They’re waiting until he’s eighteen or nineteen. Because the entire right valve for his heart needs to be changed. And also the stents need to be replaced. But right now he’s a bit young. They don’t want to do that. They are waiting until he becomes an adult, so that when he’s done with that, he’s done with surgeries for good.”

 

 

It’s a heavy load to carry emotionally, but Aranda has found ways to cope and find peace in his prognosis. If you ask Andrew Green, a mentor to Aiden, he’d tell you that he believes music is Aranda’s comfort.

 

Andrew Green, Mentor

“I’ve known Aiden for a couple years and being a mentor to him, it makes me feel happy because seeing him playing various instruments and having fun on stage alongside him, it’s amazing to see how he recovers and how he heals himself, just channeling through that music.”

 

Aiden Aranda

“I processed it a lot better with, you know, my connection with music. And basically, I would say to other kids that have the same heart conditions and things as me, I would say to them, don’t let it hold you up.  You have, if you have potential, you go do it. Don’t let it hold you up.”

 

 

His mother, witnessing Aiden’s musical journey intertwined with his health battles, speaks of the special connection between his heart and the rhythms he creates.

Indira Bartley

“I can’t explain the talent that he has, cause he would listen to something, and then he’ll pick up the keyboard, and you hear that coming out of the keyboard. He picks up the song and if he wants to play, you know, he sits and he plays with the guitar until he gets that sound. The doctor says, you know, the rhythm of the drum helps his heart to keep a rhythm.  So with that, I can have him play the drums all the time. I have no problem with that.”

Aiden Aranda

“The different sounds that come from the instrument, when you hold different:  notes, it’s a different melody every time, so, yeah, it goes with your emotions.”

 

 

 

And maybe it is the case. Aiden Aranda, born with something special in his heart, would turn its rhythm of adversity into a symphony of strength.

 

Looking on the Bright Side, I’m Sabreena Daly

 

In an immediate update to this story, we note that Aiden Aranda may have to seek an emergency operation earlier than expected.