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.<\/p>\n
Doctors said she’d likely never walk or talk even if she recovered.<\/p>\n
LaLonde\u2019s mother, Rene Madore, listed a number of serious health issues the two of them faced as part of what makes Jenna’s journey improbable.<\/p>\n
She said LaLonde had hydrocephalus, a necrotizing bowel and sepsis, among other disorders.<\/p>\n
And yet, LaLonde found her joy in life crawling toward her sister’s keyboard at less than a year old.<\/p>\n
“Jenna has loved music from the day she was born,” said Madore.<\/p>\n
‘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.<\/p>\n
“We found that with a lot of her anxiety, music calms her down,” Madore said.<\/p>\n
“Music is my favorite thing to do,” LaLonde said.<\/p>\n
LaLonde\u2019s lucky to have made it there, and Madore said her two unborn triplets are Jenna’s “angels… that helped her survive.”<\/p>\n
She was born at 1 lb., 6 ounces at just 23 weeks old.<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
Yet, since the age of 5, LaLonde\u2019s gradually gotten more healthy, to the point where now she’s opening for big-name concerts like the band Chicago.<\/p>\n
“Jenna is in so many ways, just extraordinary,” Madore said.<\/p>\n
LaLonde’s favorite instrument is the hurdy gurdy because it’s a fun challenge to crank the lever with the right force.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
Evidently, the two like it enough that Madore made LaLonde a TikTok page.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“When I’m doing the lives, I’m going to have money to buy a new Korg Kaossilator,” LaLonde said. “With yellow buttons!”<\/p>\n
Yet, she doesn’t need a new synth to have perfect pitch. Perhaps it’s no surprise due to her conditions.<\/p>\n