An Indiana couple have publicly thanked Bruce Springsteen for helping save their daughter’s life.
Kelley French tells how Juniper was born at 23-weeks gestation, weighing 1lb,4oz five years ago. She was to remain in hospital for six-and-a-half months.
Her dad, Tom, put an iPod inside her incubator so she could listen to Springsteen instead of constant alarms and bleeping machines
In an open letter, Kelley says: “She couldn’t see, couldn’t cry, couldn’t be fed or held. If we stroked her, they said, her skin could slide off. She knew nothing but needle sticks and isolation and darkness. But she could hear.
“We hoped that the joy and promise in your music would offer her some hint of a better world, waiting. Without that, why would she fight?
“We could see by the numbers on her monitors that your music calmed her when she was in pain and soothed her when she was upset. The monitors even told us that she had particular tastes. Her devotion to Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out never wavered.”
Kelley continues: “She nearly died a million times, and when her heart rate bottomed out, Waitin’ On A Sunny Day always brought her back. We’ve been trying for five years to find a way to thank you. We believe your music helped save our baby daughter’s life. “
A “healthy and ferocious” five-year-old, Kelley and Juniper flew from Indiana to Boston last month to attend Springsteen’s signing for his best-selling autobiography Born To Run.
Though their meeting with The Boss was brief, Juniper told her mum: “He already knows me. He sang to me all those songs. I love him.”
Springsteen launched an audio companion to Born To Run last month in the shape of Chapter And Verse.
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