By: Lucas Chi

Joni Mitchell, who suffered from a brain aneurysm in 2015, has recovered and surprised the audience at the Newport Folk Festival with her old songs, “Big Yellow Taxi” and “Both Sides Now”.

Mitchell, now 78 years old, had her first performance since her 55th birthday, totaling a break of 8660 full days. After losing her ability to walk, speak, and do simple tasks, she has recovered almost entirely from her aneurysm.

Mitchell described her rehab process as a return to infancy because she had to learn how to walk, talk, and support herself. Her doctors thought it was a miracle that she could play guitar again.

Dr. Anthony Wang, a neurosurgeon at the UCLA Hospital, was one of many that were very surprised by Mitchell’s recovery. “To be able to recover to the point of being able to perform as a musician is incredible,” Wang also says that half of the patients die before they even reach the hospital. It was rare that she recovered with small effects for an aneurysm. Wang says those who survive the aneurysm will almost always have problems like seizures and comas.

Mitchell also had a history of polio as a child, where she couldn’t walk. Polio is a life-threatening disease that if you ignore you most likely will die. She thinks that polio is nothing compared to her brain aneurysm. She said “Polio didn’t grab me like that, but the aneurysm took away a lot more really. . . I got my speech back quickly, but the walking I’m still struggling with.”

After going through many surgeries to stop her brain from bleeding, lots of rehab, and learning basic life skills, she has returned to the stage and is singing again. She said that she relearned guitar by watching her old videos of her playing.

Mitchell’s doctors are unsure of where the brain aneurysm happened. If it happened in the part of the brain that controls her strength, she will easily be able to come back. However, if it is the part of the brain that coordinates her movements, rehabilitation would be very difficult.

Sources: npr.org health.ny.gov