A Frome woman born with a rare brain condition says music has played a vital role in her recovery and day-to-day life.
Maya Sherriff, 21, was born with vein of Galen malformation (VGM), a rare vascular abnormality where arteries in the brain connect directly to veins, bypassing the normal capillary network.
From the age of four weeks old, she has undergone eight brain operations and major surgery through her skull to drain fluid, with doctors predicting she would be ‘profoundly’ disabled and blind.
However, Maya has defied those early predictions. She lives with physical and emotional challenges including chronic fatigue, issues with blood flow and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder but has credited music with helping her cope, build skills and focus on her wellbeing.
At three years old, Maya sang on stage for the first time, before she could properly walk.
“Music is my biggest passion and is a calming mechanism for me,” she said. “I’ll go and play the piano and I’ll put everything into what I am playing rather than in my own head.”
Now she is a multi-instrumentalist and is in a local band, The Electric Kool Aid Collective, which has recently released a new single that has been played on radio stations in America.
A commercial music student at Bath Spa University, Maya said music has become her ‘entire life’.
“It is something I don’t have to think about,” she said. “When anything challenging happens, I can just play the piano or play the keyboard or sing or whatever, I can just be.”
Maya’s mum, Tanya who runs ‘Drum It Up’, which delivers djembe classes in Frome, said she played music to Maya when she was on the ward as a baby.
“CBeebies was always on but Maya was never that interested, so instead we played her different types of music, including jazz, rock, reggae and afrobeat,” said Tanya. “She responded well and taking CDs and a CD player to the hospital was just something we regularly did.”
“She is our miracle and has such a joy in music.”
