Justin Bieber may be enemy of the state right now — to some, but to Kera Bolonik’s family the “Baby” hitmusic maker literally helped save their little boy’s life.
Sharing her experience in New York Magazine , writer Bolonik and mother of the now nearly three-year-old Theo, explained how one song helped heal her son in an extraordinary piece called – “How Justin Bieber Saved This Kid.”
Just under a year ago, the then two-year-old Theo, suffered from frequent seizures.
His condition was all the more frightening because his doctors were unable to diagnose what ailed him. Kera’s son was put on Keppra, the side-effects of which made her little boy listless and nauseated and made meal times a nightmare as he refused to eat.
Stage left, Justin Bieber .
Bolonik writes:
“We were especially frustrated because when his caretaker, Erin, arrived at 9 a.m., she could get him to eat scrambled eggs with cheese, yogurt, cereal—a meal fit for a kid twice his age and size. Why? And why was he suddenly chanting “Bee-bee, bay-bee” every five minutes?
“Because, we eventually discovered, she’d bribe him by playing a music video on our iPad: Justin Bieber’s “Baby.” The song came to be Theo’s life raft, as well as our measuring stick for how long it would take to feed him.
“I’d sworn that Bieber would never be allowed in our household, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and the track was playing so frequently it became like white noise: Theo would demand the video repeatedly until his meal—or any task we needed him to endure — was done. It was an easy request to oblige.”
However, despite Theo’s improved eating the toddler’s seizures continued until Kera got Theo seen to by a dedicated diagnostic team at Mount Sinai hospital.
His mother recalls Theo found the daily testing unbearable, even when the “Baby” music video was played.
During one particularly tough procedure which Theo physically resisted, Kera writes that without prompt, the doctor and nurses started singing “Baby” to the astonishment of Theo’s whose tears dried immediately.
At the time, Bolonik remembered thinking, “‘They know this song?’ he was clearly thinking, and so was I. I’d forgotten that ‘Baby’ existed outside our crisis.”
Theo was eventually diagnosed with “hyperinsulinism,” a rare disorder that is in fact the polar opposite of diabetes in which the pancreas produces too much insulin.
Theo went on to receive a life-saving treatment using the drug diazoxide which regulated his blood sugars and is now in relatively good health.
( Photo: Theo’s mother tells her family’s amazing story of healing, music, and the work of dedicated doctors in New York Magazine. )
Today, Theo’s jam is Pharrell’s “Happy,” but in his darkest times Bieber’s “Baby” helped him get through it.
Last May the American recording industry recognized “Baby” as the highest certified digital single in US music history. It went Diamond after going 12-times Platinum.
Fast forward this February, the music video for the song was the first to hit one billion views on VEVO.
Currently, Justin has for all intents and purposes bowed from the spotlight while fallout after the recent surfacing of two several years-old videos in which he says the N-word continues.
Some celebrities have spoken up for Bieber and said the clips are old and don’t reflect his views now, including his mentor Usher .
Since the debacle, TMZ has reported Justin received baptism last month in New York City, amid the latest alleged extortion attempt over the videos.
If only the “Baby” song could work its magic for Bieber too.