Monk Danny: God's Musician (The Prayer Foundation)

Monk Danny: God's Musician

New Treatment for Brain Problem Available

By Patti David

Portland guitarist Danny Drayer had been suffering from debilitating headaches for a long time. When he would see Doctors, the diagnosis was that he had the flu. No one knew how serious the condition really was, until the headaches that Danny was having began causing blindness, and paralysis in his legs for a month at a time.

Drayer has an abnormally large Arterial Venus Malformation, which affects six out of every 1,000 people. ___________________ KBOO Guide Jan.'98

By Becky Harrison

Photo: of the cover of Danny Drayer's CD, "Take It Easy"

"One percent of all strokes are caused by or associated with AVMs," said Martin Johnson, M.D., Drayer's neurosurgeon. Johnson, who has performed about four AVM resections or removals every year for the past 22 years, said that AVMs are congenital.

AVMs are groups of torturously-malformed blood vessels found in the brain's cerebral hemispheres. Like aneurisms, they can rupture at any time. Aneurisms affect only arteries, but AVMs affect all three types of blood vessels in the brain (arteries, veins, and capillaries). __________________________________

CD:"Take It Easy" by Danny L. Drayer

Not letting anything hold him back, Danny produced, designed, composed, and arranged his own musical release. "I couldn't postpone my musical dream anymore."

Embolization is the insertion of tiny silastic spheres into specific blood vessels, to channel blood flow away from the AVM. The technique had only been done at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona, at the University of California in San Diego, and at Stanford University. Charles Kerber, M.D., of La Mesa, California, had to fly to Portland four times over an eight-week period to embolize Drayer.

To date, Danny has undergone surgery over thirty times in attempts to correct this problem. Once he was brought to the Hospital and declared DOA (Dead On Arrival). When he came back to life and learned of what had happened, Danny gave his life to Jesus. Now he gives thanks to God for every new day he receives.

"I'm a little scared, but I'm putting my faith in God. You have to live out your life and live it to the fullest and be happy. I could be scheduled for surgery, but I could just as easily be hit by a truck, and it would be my time to go. So I'm not living on thin ice, I'm just being happy." ________________________

Danny has been a self-taught musician since the age of seven. He has survived an embolism and years of recovery, and never strayed from his passion.

You can enjoy his music on "Take It Easy." KBOO 90.7 FM has a copy in their music library; you can call and request a few tracks from Danny's CD at: (503) 231-8187.

If you fancy meaningful harmony on guitar, drums, and synthesizer, check out Danny Drayer, a brilliant musician and composer who created his CD: "Take It Easy." ____________________

The quality of "Take It Easy" is very smooth and sounds as though it were mixed in a large studio. All ten tracks are wonderfully mixed and pleasant to the ears. "Wings, track number eight, is dedicated to my late brother, Victor, and my late sister, Beveline." (Article re-printed by permission.)

________________________________________

See Also:

________________________________________

Once your ears have fallen in love with the music you can obtain your own copy. (See: Monk Danny's Jazz CD).

_______________________________

Next THE MONKS