DONNA LYNN BROPHY SPINAL DISEASES FUNDRAISER!

Please help Donna (aka Bhakti) get the spinal surgery she needs in NYC.

“We can find inspiration in various walks of life. Whenever we see someone rising above their limitations, having the courage to continue to not only be creative in the face of great adversity, but also to excel, these people raise the bar for all of us and seeing them continue to find a way can be tremendously inspiring. Donna is just one of those people. Her passion for music and the guitar has given her the courage and strength to rise above tremendous limitation. And this is how one can change the world for the better. By being an excellent example. You go sister!”
 - Steve Vai
*Guitar Virtuoso (Frank Zappa, David Lee Roth, PIL, Whitesnake)
*Four time Grammy Award Winner 
*Symphonic Composer


Donna Lynn Brophy (aka Bhakti) was hit by a car in 1997, resulting in multiple surgeries, including cervical spinal reconstruction in 2005.  Living with spinal cord nerve root injuries and four incurable spinal diseases causes Donna severe chronic pain and has left her virtually bedridden and 100% disabled.

Donna’s insurance no longer covers the cost of her disability and care. Therefore, her family has set up a SUPPLEMENTAL NEEDS TRUST to help provide all the costs that insurance and governmental benefits deny.  This Trust will make it possible for her to have cutting edge surgery in NYC.  These costs are significant, costing tens of thousands of dollars each year.
Please help Donna maintain her current level of care and quality of life.


Donations can be made online through www.gofundme.com/GoBrophy

or by mailing a check to:


Donna Lynn Brophy Supplemental Needs Trust
    P.O.Box 556
    Cedar Knolls, NJ 07927

THANK YOU! 🙏

Flying V And CBGB's (JAI BHAKTI™ BLOG)

As my blog celebrates its tenth year anniversary this year, I've decided to post some photos from my personal archives.

The first photo is a 1988 portrait of me with my '83 Ibanez Flying V guitar*. This photo was a promo shot for my band MIDNIGHT LIGHTNING and was taken at The School of Visual Arts. My band was getting ready to play at the University of Delaware.

* I gave that guitar to my cousin G. as a gift for letting me crash at his apartment in San Francisco while I vacationed there for two weeks in 1994. That was one of the sweetest sounding electrics I've ever owned!

This next photo is a flier for one of my LIVE ACOUSTIC™ shows at CBGB'S in NYC. I started performing again four years after my car accident: my physical therapist had to tape my right shoulder blade in place before every show so my arm wouldn't fall asleep! Again...where there's a will there's a way. (I'm currently unable to play due to my spinal diseases...but you know that already.)

The flier is sitting on top of one of my black and white photographs that was published in CBGB's 30th ANNIVERSARY book.

The photo of CBGB's was originally published in ROLLING STONE magazine paying tribute to the death of Joey Ramone. This was a great milestone for me. I moved to NYC and started my photography career at age 18 with one goal in mind: be published in ROLLING 
STONE by the time I was 35. I lost my photography business after I was hit by the car in 1997 at age 28...but my goal was reached at age 31, thanks to my photo agency Retna, NYC, London, reselling that photo to ROLLING STONE! Set a goal and work your tail off to meet that end, and you'll be happy to see what fruits you reap!

More photos from the archive will be posted in the future.

Enjoy your day!

Namo Namah
Bhakti

JAI BHAKTI™ BLOG: How I Type With Spine Injuries

One of my students asked if I use Dragon Software to type. No, actually, I don't have a computer.

I lie I bed and SWYPE everything from my phone!

Where there's a will...

Jaya!

Living with Chronic Illness in the Kali Yuga

YOU ARE NOT THE DOER
We are living in the Kali Yuga; the Dark Ages. Chaos is the principle characteristic of this time and age. It's all cyclical; the Satva Yuga, age of Enlightenment, is next in this wheel of time.

In dealing with chronic disease, severe pain, loss of autonomy, isolation, and all of the emotions that come with this life, etc.--STOP THE SELF JUDGMENT. Stop beating yourself up when you have had a difficult time treading the waters: the point is--you made it through to another day! By the Grace of God (Inner Self/Guru/Pure Consciousness/_____), you weathered the storm! Amen to that.


Follow me on Twitter:
@BhaktiBrophy


Love One Another. (JC)

©2013 DL Bhakti Brophy

Who Are You?

In the last three weeks I have gone through two visits to the Emergency Room, a Cat Scan, an abdominal Ultrasound, and an Endoscopy (of my upper digestive system). I had such severe stomach spasms every single time I ate ANYTHING that, at times, my mother had to place ice on my back--at my request--while I sat crouched over in a fetal position crying, writhing in pain, and riffling off every single curse word I ever heard. I tried everything possible to find a comfortable position; there wasn't one. Even after all of these tests, and the visits to the ER (where they pumped me full of morphine and told me to take Percocet for the stomach pain), my doctors were still dumb-founded as to what was causing the severe pain and my inability to eat anything without the said pain. My gastroenterologist (whom I went to for the first time two weeks ago) kept saying that maybe the pain and spasms were from one of the medications that I am on for my spinal disease. I did my own research. I think he was right.

For the past 6 weeks or so, I have been taking a prescription drug that is supposed to ease nerve pain. The side effects that I found on WebMD lists severe stomach cramps (as well as a whole other host of side effects that I have but do not wish to share with the world on this blog). I have since been weened off of the drug, and I already notice that one of the most annoying side effects has disappeared.

So, for now, my life is fueled by Ensure and frozen yogurt. That's all I can eat without stomach spasms. I am hoping that by the time this prescription drug is fully out of my system that I will be back to normal and able to focus on getting my spinal disease under control (oh yes, I am still battling the chronic pain disease known as radiculopathy--remember that??).

The point of this post is not, as one might think, to complain, to ask for sympathy, or to depress my lovely readers. Here's what I am offering you today:
The severity of the pain that I experienced during the stomach spasms (and whatever else was going on) was beyond any amount of pain that I could ever imagine (and let's all remember that I have had over 12 surgeries and procedures in my life. In other words, I know pain). The beauty of all of this pain is that I was forced to enjoy the several hours of peace that I had in between the bouts of stomach induced pain. I made a conscious effort to find things to do that I loved during these several hours every day. As anyone who reads this blog religiously knows, I always tend to find the silver lining, but I'm talking about even more than that. I've learned so much more about life during these past three weeks than I ever imagined I could learn. I thought I had a pretty solid grasp of what happiness was, and how it is cultivated. These past three weeks literally taught me, first hand, that happiness lies nowhere else but within ourselves. That sounds elementary--and we've all heard it before, but believe me, when you are faced with chronic neck and arm pain and then, on top of that, are made to experience stomach pains that have you crying like a baby and writhing around on the floor, you are forced to face the reality that happiness must be cultivated from within. And, moreover, it doesn't take much at all to be happy. I'm talking about the purest form of happiness.

I'm not quite sure if I can put into words what I am trying to convey, because it was literally a very spiritual (personal) experience, and I'm not sure if anything so close to the Truth, as it were, can be put into words. But I can guarantee you that I am not the same person I was three weeks ago. I am stronger. I have more confindence. My faith has always been strong, but my confidence is bubbling over.

My wish is to share my gifts with the world (i.e. teaching meditation, working with gay youth, teaching writing, etc.). Going through such physical pain did something to me, and, like I've said before, I have been through my share of physical pain. The last three weeks have been unbelievably difficult. But I am stronger now.

Thank you for reading this long post.
(Please note: I have not yet had the chance to proof-read what I have written, so please excuse any typos, etc.)

With love,
Bhakti