SIMPLY WEIRD: Woman has part of her brain removed to stop seizures triggered by Neyo's voice
A mother has undergone surgery to remove part of her brain in a bid to
stop crippling seizures which she claims are triggered by the sound of
Neyo's voice..Zoe Fennessy, 26,says within seconds of hearing his
voice,she has an epileptic seizure which make her freeze, vomit and
unable to react to the world around her.
The healthcare assistant has to
wear earphones whenever she goes shopping just in case Neyo's tunes are
played in stores.Surgeons removed part of her left frontal lobe in June
in a bid to stop the affliction.But the surgery was not successful and
doctors now fear she may have the condition forever.
Miss Fennessy - who has been unable to work for six months because of her affliction told Mailonline
'I don't dislike Ne-Yo or his music, it just dislikes me unfortunately.I'll be walking around the supermarket doing my food shopping and I have to put my earphones in to listen to my own music just in case it comes on.
'It's the same with most shops. I have to walk in with my ear phones in at first just to make sure they don't have Ne-Yo on.If he ever releases a greatest hits album it's going to be a nightmare.Whenever I hear the first few beats of the song I have to drop whatever I am doing and run..'People might think it is funny - and I can laugh at it myself - but it has taken over my life. It's ruined my life.'
It wasn't until she heard Ne-Yo's first big hit, 'Give Me Everything' featuring Pitbull - which topped the charts in May 2011 - that she had her first music-induced seizure.
It took me a while to realise that they were being triggered by his songs.
'It wasn't until I'd heard it for about the 15th time that it finally twigged what was going on.' The song was really popular and I went to my consultant and I said "I know this sounds extremely bizarre, but every time I hear this song I have a seizure". He said it was fascinating and that he'd never heard anything like it.I stressed that while it might be fascinating, I was really struggling - the song was everywhere at the time.'
In June this year, Miss Fennessy endured a six-hour long operation to
remove a huge chunk of her left temporal lobe where doctors thought all
her seizures may originate.
But while the symptoms of her epilepsy have reduced, she still has a fit every time she hears Ne-Yo's voice.
I have had to go up to DJs in places and say 'look can you not play Ne-Yo' and they just look at me like I'm an alien,'[Doctors] are saying it could possibly be something in the tone of his voice, something like that, but it doesn't happen when I hear Usher, or people like him who have a very similar sound. It is only him, only Ne-Yo.'
'Our holiday this year to Majorca was a nightmare. Honestly it was like being at a Ne-Yo concert - the song was everywhere.I had to stay in the hotel room for most of the holiday because it got so bad.'
She has been clinically diagnosed with 'musicogenic seizures' which are triggered by the tone of Ne-Yo's voice.
