In sight

Amber Waterman/Sun Journal

Healing music

When Alex Niemann was born, his mother noticed something special about him. It wasn’t the congenital hydrocephalus – water on the brain – or cerebral palsy that he suffered, though.

It was his love of music.

“When we were spending a lot of time in the hospital, he would move his head back and forth – almost like he was nodding – as we were walking down the hallways,” Nancy Niemann remembers. “I realized he was following the speakers. Since birth, he has been hooked on music. It’s just been his thing.”

Alex, now 18, still loves music, and has used it as an outlet during the tough times he’s endured since late summer.

In August, the shunt draining fluid away from Alex’s brain malfunctioned, and he fell into an nonresponsive state before he was rushed into emergency surgery.

Then on Oct. 20, he underwent surgery to lengthen his hamstrings and Achilles tendons, and to rotate his femurs outward. On Nov. 10, when Alex was supposed to be halfway through his recovery, the doctors discovered the hardware they used to hold his hips and femurs in place didn’t take and was backing out of the bone. He had to have another surgery, causing him to be bedridden since Oct. 20.

While recovering after the second surgery, Alex made a list of CDs and concerts on DVD he wanted his dad, Mark, to pick up.

One of the names on that list was Montgomery Gentry, a country band from Tennessee.

“I knew he liked music, especially country music, so I called up Eddie (Kilagallon) and asked him to send me something,” said Chris Orr, Alex’s step-cousin-in-law.

Kilagallon is a keyboardist and award-winning songwriter who grew up with Orr in New York and who plays with Montgomery Gentry.

“I thought I would surprise him in his time of need and try to pick up his spirits,” Orr said.

Alex was still in the hospital recovering from his second surgery when Orr and his wife showed up with the package.

“Amazing,” Alex said.

The package contained Montgomery Gentry guitar picks, CDs, T-shirts, an autographed photo and even a plaid shirt Eddie Montgomery had worn on the “Grand Ole Opry” a week earlier.

“He just lit up,” Nancy said. “And of course, he couldn’t wait to put the CD in and hear the music.”