EAST BRUNSWICK – It was just three years ago when Ryan Brolliar, a musician from San Diego, was diagnosed with a tumor on his spine and the prospect of never walking again.
The tumor was removed and it turned out to be benign, but he was relegated to using a walker and wearing diapers at age 38.
“It was shocking at first,” Brolliar recalled, according to information provided by Chelsea Senior Living in East Brunswick, “but I had no idea it would become the biggest blessing of my life.”
Following months of rehabilitation and therapy, Brolliar, a professional musician, was asked to play for hearing-impaired children in a hospital wing sponsored by the Ronald McDonald House of San Diego. He was moved to tears after playing for one specific girl who was seriously ill, and whose mother requested he play for her as her last wish, according to the statement.
“You know, it was always about being a football coach and being a man,” the 41-year-old said. “But when I fell to my knees, literally, I became aware of something larger than me.
“I started living a different life after that. I was trying to be famous, trying to make it on ‘The Voice’ and things like that. When I was in a walker and couldn’t get out of bed for quite a while, I realized that I could let go, that there was something more to me,” he said in the statement.
He said he was profoundly touched by his experiences with the children.
“I just felt this overwhelming peace come over me, this peace that I’d never felt in my life. That’s become my mantra for the rest of the tour – see the light, be the light – regardless of people’s sickness, regardless of where I am, what condition they’re in,” he said in the statement.
Brolliar is now on a solo tour of the United States with the goal of performing at least one hospital in each of the 50 states. As of press time, he had been to 27. He travels and lives in a converted ambulance, which he calls the Jambulance. He has a GoFundMe page to collect donations to pay his expenses for the Music Is Medicine Tour.
He spent much of Jan. 14 performing at three Chelsea properties, beginning at The Chelsea at East Brunswick where he played both guitar and piano and sang familiar songs. He handed out “egg shakers,” small plastic eggs filled with beads that allow the residents to participate, according to the statement.
“We’ve got some singers in here, don’t we?” he told the group of residents gathered in the living room for the impromptu sing-along. “I’ve never been to New Jersey. New Jersey’s been very welcoming to me.”
