This medic also cares for the soul.
Bruna Falluh is a young doctor on the front line of the battle against COVID-19, fighting to save patients at the M’Boi Mirim hospital in the city of São Paulo, Brazil.
Last month, she brought in her guitar and started to sing the patients a song about God’s love to give them hope and strength. The patients and Falluh’s colleagues alike were moved by the music, and a colleague recorded the moment on video, which has captivated viewers on social media and news outlets.
In a video interview published on the YouTube channel of the Brazilian Catholic movement Canção Nova, Dr. Falluh recounts how the music she played that day transformed the atmosphere in the COVID ICU ward, which is a place of great suffering. “When I began to play in the ICU, some patients who were less sedated started to open their eyes, to connect with reality. Others, who were on oxygen and lying face down, began to cry, to sing, and instead of their blood oxygen saturation going down, it was going up,” she says.
Talking to CNN Brazil, she explained that she had wanted to bring fresh air of hope into that place where everyone was struggling to breathe. “I wanted to change that symphony of machines for a song, for something that would bring hope and a new message: You aren’t alone—we’re fighting alongside you.”
In the video (below) you can hear other people singing along with her.
It was a beautiful gesture of love, empathy and hope—values that are so necessary today. The song she chose is called “Raridade”— “Rareness” in English—written by Anderson Freire, a Brazilian gospel singer. Here are a few excerpts from the song’s lyrics, translated into English:
God chose you…
You are a mirror that reflects
the image of the Lord.
Don’t cry if the world hasn’t noticed it yet;
it’s enough that God recognizes your value.
You are precious, rarer than gold…
If you’ve given up, God won’t give up on you.
He’s here to lift you up if the world has made you fall.
