Charity Tillemann-Dick: After a lung transplant, an aria

http://www.ted.com You'll never sing again, said her doctor. But in a story from the very edge of medical possibility, operatic soprano Charity Tillemann-Dick tells a double story of survival -- of her body, from a double lung transplant -- and of her spirit, fueled by an unwavering will to sing. A powerful story from TEDMED 2011.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/translate.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Charity
• Tillemann-Dick
• TEDTalks
• TED
• talks
• TEDMED
• medicine
• health
• science
• technology
• lung
• transplant
• opera
• singing
• music
• medical

[freedomtd]

This chick rocks. Awesome voice. Awesome story. I totally dig this.

[bebenut123]

So much nerves and emotions in the breathless voice of this woman

[ChariSunFan]

Just found out she debuted at Lincoln Center this week. What a girl.

[Bennetttt]

Very inspiring

[tphamiltonz]

God Bless you, you are my inspiration. I have PAH and am just going to the transplant evaluation starting on June 14th. It means the world to me to see your videos.

[tphamiltonz]

God Bless you, you are my inspiration.  I have PAH and am just going to the transplant evaluation starting on June 14th. It means the world to me to see your videos.

[macjakedom]

Awesome video. Nearly as good as Jill Bolte Taylor's Ted talk.

[marrowlesion]

Thank you God for creating few such people who serve as an inspiration to so many.

God bless you lady.

[SusanW1963]

God bless the donor of the lungs !

[iburnaga]

She needs a hug. YOutube needs a hug button.

[badrice]

My god. I am a classically trained singer. As with her, my voice is my lively hood. She has an amazing amount of strength that I can barley dream of having. Brava. You are an inspiration my love!

[Idnar101020]

That's amazing :)

[2010muah]

@150buckfifty150 eewwwww to you

[2010muah]

truly inspiring, WOW, thank God for you

[ceefeedunn]

I sobbed nearly every moment. Thank your for sharing this with me. If ever there was a story of moving mountains and affirming that positivity, love and life will always prevail. xx

Cee Fee Dunn

[ceefeedunn]

I sobbed nearly every moment. Thank your for sharing this with me. If ever there was a story of moving mountains and affirming that positivity, love and life will always prevail. xx

[xilliah]

Brrrr she scared me from the start till the end.

[iloveitornot]

I watched this already came back. I am just so awed by this story. As someone who has a close friend who has had a lung transplant, I know what this means. She talks about some of it, but it is one of the most invasive and brutal surgeries around and the survival rate is still frighteningly low and it is no solution. I hope she can stay with us til there is something else. AND I want her CD. Great voice. I want her to sing Traviatta here in New York. Sounds like she has the chops for it.

[Rombizio]

I think this talk proves my point about Science. Give us enough time, and we can do anything. Research, that is all we need.

[Rombizio]

Ahn...she scares me...seriously. Beautiful story, but scary. Very scary voice.

[enzyme20056]

i love her determination so amazing 

[holliebadollie]

I cried so hard at this... what an amazing story from such a brave, talented young woman.

[150buckfifty150]

i wonder how she sounds in bed LOL 

[bakamesuinu]

my dog was sleeping on my lap while i was watching this and once she started singing, he looked up and just watched her...........it was wierd.