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Nanaimo guitarist, recovered and thriving, can now help others

Jason Morley to play a show with Laura Kelsey at the Nanaimo Bar on Thursday, March 14
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Jason Morley and Laura Kelsey play the Nanaimo Bar on Thursday, March 14. (Photo courtesy Laura Kelsey)

Fifteen years ago Jason Morley woke up in a hospital bed and had no idea how he got there.

The Nanaimo-based guitarist had fallen down a flight of stairs and had to be put in a week-long medically induced coma, while doctors treated a hemorrhaging blood clot in his head.

“If they didn’t remove the top portion of my skull, I would have had an aneurysm and probably be a vegetable or dead,” Morley said.

In the years that followed, Morley had six more surgeries and underwent mental and physical rehabilitation, including re-learning the guitar. He said the knowledge was still there, but there were “neurological blocks” that kept him from telling his fingers what to do.

“There was a point in that time when I kind of put music down for probably around a year, where I had to really focus on my life and trying to get myself together and I can tell you straight out that putting that down, that was the absolutely most miserable year of my life,” he said.

He said the accident “took a good five years off my life,” but he got through it thanks to the support and encouragement of the people around him. These days Morley looks back at that time as a bad dream.

“That was then, this is now and I’ve made a lot of choices in my life to thrive,” he said.

Morley now works as a music teacher and session musician. On March 14, he performs at the Nanaimo Bar with local singer-songwriter Laura Kelsey.

In recent years, Morley started Metaspherical, a global heavy metal project with a goal of releasing an album featuring musicians from around the world.

Morley added that Metaspherical is more than just a music project. A percentage of the proceeds will support Sweet Relief, a charity that provides financial assistance to musicians with health and age-related issues.

WHAT’S ON … Jason Morley and Laura Kelsey play the Nanaimo Bar on Thursday, March 14 at 9:30 p.m. $5 cover.



arts@nanaimobulletin.com

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