ST. GEORGE, Utah — A St. George student's dreams came true Friday after hearing music he made after a rare disease took his sight and his voice.
Jose Abram Bibliano, who prefers to go by the nickname “Abram”, has a rare degenerative condition known as Oculodentodigital Dysplasia that only affects one out of every 10 million people.
His teachers say he doesn’t have long to live.
The St. George Campus of the Utah School for the Deaf and Blind, where Abram attends, teamed up with the nearby Utah Arts Academy to take a 40-page binder of lyrics translated from braille and turn it into a rap song.
Arts Academy seniors Anne Musser, Jaden Goad and Aiden Lamontagan were given a week to turn the lyrics into a rap song. They did it in a day.
"We just wanted to take his lyrics, because he can't rap it, we just spoke for him,” Utah Arts Academy student Anne Musser said.
Abram, who speaks through a special brailler with an LED display and voice, talked it up with his collaborators after his song’s debut.
“It’s a dream come true,” he said. “That was cool.”
Washington County School District Speech Therapist Kelly Lundberg, Abram always loved rap and hip hop, which helped his therapy when he had a voice.
She said it would also get her in trouble with other teachers and administrators if a profane lyric was too loud.
“We started with beatboxing so that we could get that rapid movement of the muscles here and then really get that strength of the diaphragm,” Lundberg said.
Utah Arts Academy principal Drew Williams couldn’t resist thumbing his foot to the beat and also could resist Abram’s smile that lit up the darkened theater.
"For me, this is a moment to remember how important music is in our lives and watching his face light up,” Williams said. “You'll never forget that, the way that music interacts with the soul.”
Lamontagan said he noticed one particular gesture by Abram.
“He put his hand over his heart at one point,” Lamontagan said. “I was like, oh man, that really hit.”
Abram received a digital copy of his song, which his teacher, Tammy Noble, knows will be played over and over again.
“I think his smile is the biggest, most impactful form of communication he can give us,” Noble said. “I think it showed his pure joy and pleasure and pride. He was able to express himself without words.”
