// Letters to YVYNYL //

Simon Lee - My Daughter

 / I get a lot of people sending me music that they write as a way to process. A tool to help normalize their life after trauma, and it helps mitigate the stress after a life-changing event. When I got this Letter from Australian musician Simon Lee, I was first struck by the calm he sounded. While he doesn’t use many words here, his story is powerful and deep and full of love. From his peaceful music to his straight-forward words, I’d love it if you could thank him. Listen to his song while you read his thoughts here. Also… wombats!?

Hi Mark,

I spent my early years playing in bands as a drummer, working with Australian indie bands and musicians such as Mckicko, Fur and Tom Cooney.

In June 2017 I got in my car for a 10 hour drive to visit a friend who was selling a vintage Rogers drumkit his Grandfather had left him. I decided to drive through the night and left home at midnight. At about 2am I was speeding along the highway on a stretch of road in the countryside when a large wombat suddenly walked onto the road. I swerved to avoid it and lost control of the car.

The car rolled and ended up crashing somewhere off the road, my body was propelled outside of the vehicle, and I found myself laying face down in the bush.

At that time I couldn’t remember what had just happened. It was like waking up from a dream. I was in the dark looking up at the stars, trying to work out where I was and what had happened, I wasn’t in any pain, but I couldn’t move my body.

At this point, I started to panic and had to pray to calm myself down, fortunately a truck driver saw my car and stopped.

The accident broke my neck, damaged my spinal cord and left me with my body paralyzed from the upper chest down.

After 6 months of hospital and rehab I returned home and continued to practice with some sticks and a drum pad, trying to keep my hands in shape while hoping to regain movement in my lower body, but eventually I decided to let it go.

I have always wanted to do more songwriting, and have found the process really fulfilling, so in some ways it has been a change for the better.

Living with a spinal cord injury is hard, especially in the early stages, however, I am fortunate in that I have had a lot of support from my family and friends, particularly my wife and three kids.

I have included the track “My Daughter” which was inspired by my children’s pure childlike hearts.

I hope you enjoy it.

Simon Lee

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