One day – it can all disappear.
Lawyer Suzanne Jarvie was living life with four kids. All of them doing what kids do. One day, nine years ago, a spiral staircase changed everything including Suzanne’s soul.
‘I played music my entire life. I sang a lot, I played piano and guitar. It was only after my son’s accident I started writing songs. That was the trigger.’
Suzanne Jarvie
Suzanne’s eldest son was visiting his Father on Canada Day weekend. He was a normal healthy teenager. Suzanne, who was working in Toronto, received a call. Her son had fallen down a spiral staircase and was in a coma. It was a parent’s worst nightmare.
” He was airlifted to the hospital and they performed emergency brain surgery on him. We were told there was a good chance he would not survive.”
A week following the surgery,Suzanne and her family were in a state of flux. Waiting to either bury their son – have him wake up or stay forever asleep. Suzanne received a call from the nurse. Her son was starting to show signs of life.
“It was a miracle in the sense the doctors – nobody expected my son to recover the way he did. He has learned to walk and talk. He does have mental health issues (which all brain surgery patients have) and wonders what his life will be. Everyday I say we are lucky. My son is still with us.
A month into her son’s recovery, Suzanne was at home and she did something that she had never done before. She picked up a guitar and wrote a song. A simple song about her feelings toward her son and family which opened up the recess of her soul. In effect, it opened her new found musical career.
I don’t think I understood. I had all this stuff inside me I did not know I had. It helped me heal and there is something about the trauma that opened me up. There is something about externalizing feelings that help you heal. Then I had so many songs,I decided to release an album based on my family’s journey.
Spiral Road jump-started Suzanne’s music career. It garnered rave reviews from music critics in Canada, the United States and Europe and was nominated for an Independent Music Award in the Best Concept Album category.
Suzanne released her sophomore record In The Clear in 2019.
Picking up where Spiral Road left off, it explores the ongoing effects of a family tragedy, touching on themes such as addiction, freedom and forgiveness. Suzanne recently completed a European tour in support of her new record and will be returning for more performances in late 2019 and 2020.
Being a lawyer, you use a part of your brain that is not a part of your heart or creative soul. I was used to living in a space where your heart was not open.The tragedy opened me involuntarily and it was like a wrecking ball tore down all my walls.
Suzanne’s story may not be unique. Many people in the world today travel without ‘soul’ to survive in a world that can be cruel. Walls are essential.Walls are safe.
Im not sure anything less severe would have done it. It is a spiritual and mystical path I am on. It seems like it was meant to be in a weird way which is awful because I would do anything to have my son back the way he was.
Rick Keene Music Scene 