Yvon Kanters, from the Netherlands, studied to be a social worker, and found a place in a local nursing home helping out as a volunteer during the pandemic.
One staff member knew that she had an incredible voice and asked her to sing for a dementia and Parkinson's patient who appeared to be struggling with isolation due to not being able to communicate but who was known to love opera music.
And as she sang "he looked at me and he was pointing with his finger towards me, like 'you are singing for me.' And then with the same finger he showed his tears, like 'you're bringing me to tears.'"
"I really saw a new way of connection, and that music is really a universal language," she said. "We can speak with anyone."
A video of Kanters singing for the elderly man went viral, and more and more nursing homes began reaching out to her to sing for them—followed by hospitals, who asked her to sing for those getting cancer treatment or dialysis. Since then some 4 million people have seen Kanters use her voice to serenade a woman with the patient and her husband's favorite song as she made her final journey home after learning there was no more treatment available for her cancer. You may recognize the song as "The Power Of Love" once popularized by Celine Dion. Both of those videos can be seen below....