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True Testimonial from Hosea Taylor
Music has been part of Hosea Taylor's life for decades, but in 2003 he feared the music might be coming to an end.
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After his PSA level turned up high during a routine exam, his doctor recommended further tests. It was prostate cancer. That’s when he turned to the St. John Van Elslander Cancer Center.
"The doctors there advised me that radiation would be sufficient to fight the cancer. I didn’t necessarily need surgery," Hosea says.
His advanced radiation treatment began with high-dose rate brachytherapy, an inpatient procedure in which radiation is delivered directly to the tumor using needles. After a night in the hospital and a week of rest, he began five weeks of daily external beam radiation.
"The care at St. John is the greatest thing that can happen to you," Hosea says. "Those people – that’s half the medicine right there. They were just wonderful. I felt like I got to know the staff and they knew me. They called me by name and showed concern for me as a person."
Within weeks of his treatments, Hosea, 72, was making music again. An accomplished musician who has taught at major universities and in the Detroit Public Schools, he now performs at many local venues – including the lobby of the Van Elslander Cancer Center where he plays piano four days a week.
"I meet a lot of people there, particularly gentlemen who have prostate cancer," Hosea says. "I tell them I went through the same thing they are going through – and I’m doing just fine."
Hosea now plays piano at Mackinac Island’s Grand Hotel every summer – a job he lined up when the hotel’s music director saw him perform at the Van Elslander Cancer Center.
"I just enjoy it so much - whether I'm playing at the hospital or at The Grand Hotel," Hosea says. "Music just takes people away."
Audio Files
Use the following links to hear the audio files.
- Moon River (MIDI)
- Mr. Bojangles (MIDI)
- Somewhere In Time (MIDI)
- Sound of Music (MIDI)
- Wonderful World (MIDI)
