Patient woken up half way through surgery to remove a brain tumour and told to play the VIOLIN

A woman has given an amazing musical performance after surgeons asked her to play the violin in the middle of brain surgery. 

Dagmar Turner, 53, was woken in the operating theatre and handed her violin by medical staff, so they knew they were avoiding vital parts of her brain during the delicate surgery. 

‘I suggested actually if they wanted me to play the violin during the surgery,’ Ms Turner told 7 News. 

Ms Turner, a professional musician from the UK, underwent the surgery to remove a brain tumour in early February. 

After undergoing general anaesthetic for the first part of the operation, Ms Turner was then woken and asked to play scales on her instrument so her hand movements could be monitored. 

Doctors had already intricately mapped her brain using scans so they knew which areas to avoid to protect her fine motor skills, but her playing the instrument during surgery provided another level of protection. 

Ms Turner said she can remember the surgeons handing her the violin and saying ‘play, play’ after regaining consciousness.

Doctors knew instantly as they completed the operation they had retained Ms Turner’s full brain function as she continued playing the scales. 

‘It was all those finer details of the fine control of the left hand, for example somebody playing the violin, the pressure on the string all those fast movements moving between one string to another. That was what was unusual for us,’ surgeon, Profesor Keyoumars Ashkan said.  

Ms Turner was out of hospital and and back on her feet just three days later.  

‘This is my life, this is what I do in my spare time and I enjoy it an awful lot,’ Ms Turner said of playing the violin.