Skip to main content
COUGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

If You Can’t Speak, Sing

Going Forth: Meet alumni enriching their communities through service

"Lean on me, when you’re not strong, and I’ll be your friend. I’ll help you carry on.” Choir members sway, clap, and joyfully belt out the lyrics. Sung by a choir of stroke survivors to a room full of hospital faculty in Provo, Utah, some who personally cared for the choir members themselves, the words carry new meaning. More than half the members of the choir suffer from aphasia, an impaired ability to understand or produce speech and language.

When asked if he was nervous to perform, BYU grad, stroke survivor, and choir founder Michael D. Ray (BS ’91, JD ’96) says brightly, “There’s not much that makes me nervous anymore.”

Read the full story here: https://magazine.byu.edu/article/going-forth-expanding-literacy-and-musical-community/

Full Name: Michael D. Ray, Lynette Patterson Ray, Tracy Wilson Liu
Post date: June 11, 2020
Author: Avery Dustin, BS '22