New York Mills-born blind woman Jenna LaLonde was given a 10% chance to live and spent the first portion of her life in the NICU.
Doctors said she’d likely never walk or talk even if she recovered.
LaLonde’s mother, Rene Madore, listed a number of serious health issues the two of them faced as part of what makes Jenna’s journey improbable.
She said LaLonde had hydrocephalus, a necrotizing bowel and sepsis, among other disorders.
And yet, LaLonde found her joy in life crawling toward her sister’s keyboard at less than a year old.
“Jenna has loved music from the day she was born,” said Madore.
‘AmazingJenna’, as her name is on TikTok, can replicate any song after hearing it just once. She has a particular affinity for rock music and the band Metallica.
“We found that with a lot of her anxiety, music calms her down,” Madore said.
“Music is my favorite thing to do,” LaLonde said.
LaLonde’s lucky to have made it there, and Madore said her two unborn triplets are Jenna’s “angels… that helped her survive.”
She was born at 1 lb., 6 ounces at just 23 weeks old.
“She was on what they call a jet vent,” Madore said, “Which is what destroyed her eyesight because it was so much pressure behind the eye.”
Yet, since the age of 5, LaLonde’s gradually gotten more healthy, to the point where now she’s opening for big-name concerts like the band Chicago.
“Jenna is in so many ways, just extraordinary,” Madore said.
LaLonde’s favorite instrument is the hurdy gurdy because it’s a fun challenge to crank the lever with the right force.
And as far as rock music goes, on her customary keyboard, she said it’s easier to repeat the chords she hears than in other genres.
“She can tell you if you’re playing the guitar, if it’s out of tune, she’ll [say], Madore said. “She does not lack the ability to tell you anything you need to hear. She just likes being in the limelight, and it just makes her happy.”
Evidently, the two like it enough that Madore made LaLonde a TikTok page.
AmazingJenna on TikTok already has over 60,000 followers and a post with nearly three million views in less than two months on the app. She hopes to use her newfound fame to get a better synthesizer.
“When I’m doing the lives, I’m going to have money to buy a new Korg Kaossilator,” LaLonde said. “With yellow buttons!”
Yet, she doesn’t need a new synth to have perfect pitch. Perhaps it’s no surprise due to her conditions.
A 2000 study conducted by Boston researchers concluded that absolute pitch is nearly three times more common in blind musicians than in sighted musicians.
LaLonde hopes to perform in future concerts as her dream of being a musician lives on.