10 Incredible Things that YOU Made Happen: Number 9

Giving the "Gift of Music" 

As Children's Music Fund continues with its annual campaign, we want to reflect on the past year and say "Thank You!" Without your continued support of CMF, we wouldn't be able to serve chronically ill children in and out of the hospital. We will be sharing "10 incredible things..." with a new story each week throughout the campaign, please comment and share!

Number 9: Instrument Donation

This year you were able to bring the healing power of music to children by gifting musical instruments to children with life altering illnesses and chronic conditions. 

Below are some of the instruments that you have gifted to children in need: 

A keyboard went to a 6 year old boy with SMARD (Spinal Muscular Atrophy with Respiratory Distress)  and Charcot-Marie Tooth disease (a peripheral nervous system disorder affecting both his hands and his feet) in Los Angeles. He is using his keyboard to help regulate his breathing, and work on fine motor function in his hands. 

A violin went to a brain cancer survivor in Bakersfield. This 9 year old girl is using the violin to help connect the neurons in her brain to aide her recovery. She is excelling in school and making tremendous progress with music. Her mom writes,

"We are very thankful for Children's Music Fund, we are experiencing a wonderful journey. Esmerelda is greatly motivated and music is now a great part of her development. She is a straight A student and receiving school awards! Children's Music Fund, you guys are amazing!" 

Together we are doing great things!

Click HERE to participate in this year's Annual Fund!

What happens to the Body During Music Therapy?

Music’s therapeutic qualities are impressive and far reaching.  In pain management, music provides distraction and cognitive imagery to aide relaxation.  It also reduces pain perception by blocking pain impulses to the brain at the spinal cord and releasing endorphins, which make us feel good.  Therapeutic music can also help restore lost abilities, such as memory deficits in dementia, or speech and motor deficits following a brain injury or stroke.  One of the fastest growing clinical applications of music therapy is with children with autism spectrum or other developmental disorders, helping improve self-expression, as well as social and shared communication, and perhaps reaching even less measurable goals such as improving self-esteem and quality of life.  

At Children's Music Fund (CMF), we ask parents of children we serve to monitor many different aspects of their child’s functioning and their presenting symptoms before and after a 16-session cycle of CMF funded music therapy.  Parents have told us that after their work with our music therapists, they have noticed improvements in their child’s communication skills, an increase in their general happiness and life satisfaction, an improvement (decrease in) loneliness and boredom, and a decrease in symptoms of pain and anxiety.   

Seeing is believing... Joesph and CMF music therapist Melinda - show us huge smiles after their session.

If you know of a child with a chronic condition or life-altering illness, applications for individual can be found on our website: www.thecmf.org

for more information contact 310-428-0589 or email info@thecmf.org

Music Heals! What people are saying about Children's Music Fund.

“We are experiencing a wonderful journey”

At 6 months old, Esmerelda was diagnosed Acute Myelogenous Luekemia. At a time when her brain was undergoing crucial and fragile development, Esmerelda was having central nervous system chemotherapy and umbilical cord stem cell transplants.

Esmerelda, now 8, has always had a dream to play the violin. Children’s Music Fund, provides instruments to children with life altering conditions and was happy to provide a violin for Esmerelda to learn to play.  

“We are very thankful for Children's Music Fund, we are experiencing a wonderful journey.  Esmeralda is greatly motivated and music is now a great part of her life. Music is now a great part of her development. She is a straight A student and receiving school awards! ! Thank You so much for all your support without it our Princess wouldn't be achieving one of her heart's desire, which is to play music.  Do to our low income we wouldn't be able to help my Princess.  Children's Music Fund; you guys are amazing! !”