This 28-year-old who used to be a New Jersey gang member became a musical star after videos of him singing to hospital patients where he now works went viral.
Enrique Rodriguez from Central Jersey is a phlebotomist at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital who became widely renowned for his musical talents.
Rodriguez began sharing videos of himself singing and playing the piano for ill patients in the ICU on his TikTok.
Now, he has more than 80,000 followers.
Leaving a History of Crime & Violence to Turn to Religion
Rodriguez says he’s left behind a history of violence and crime so that he can help people who’re suffering after he turned to religion. He explains that he found God at an extremely challenging period in his life and He showed to him when he needed Him the most.
Rodriguez claims that he knows God wanted him to care for people just like He watched over him. The hospital was the ideal place for this.
Rodriguez became associated with gangs in 2009 after his eldest brother went to prison. Losing his brother to the jail system meant he will be disconnected from the ones he loves so he went searching for the ‘wrong kind of family.’
He was a member of a local gang for three years after he was misled that he’s joining ‘a strong brotherhood’ where he could make easy and quick money. However, shortly after joining, Rodriguez realized that gang life is nothing more than manipulation.
He explains gangers make you feel like they care for you and that they got you covered like you are their family; however, what they really do is use you so that they don’t have to get their hands dirty.
Rodriguez’s Turning Point to Get Out of Gang Life
The moment which helped Rodriguez realize that he needs to get out is when he hurt the ‘wrong person’ and a rival gang came after his mom. Unfortunately, there were two attempts on his mom’s life before they arrested the aggressors.
For Rodriguez, his mom is alive today because of God. He explains that he’s done a lot of bad stuff and involved a lot of bad people. He’s grateful that Good watched out for him and his family.
And, he’s thankful for the chance to begin a new life and he has music to thank for that.
Music & the Desire to Help those in Need
In 2012, Rodriguez began working as a housekeeper in the hospital so that he could get employed there as soon as possible. One year later, he finished the training to care for patients in the ICU. He’s now working as a phlebotomist and carries covid-19 and blood samples from various labs.
Throughout the nine years he’s been working there, Rodriguez discovered he also has a raw talent for music. Since he couldn’t read sheet music, he taught himself to play the guitar and the piano and he practiced playing in front of some patients in the ward.
Unfortunately, one cancer patient who was one of Rodriguez’s first listeners, Barbara Freud, passed away when Rodriguez was on a holiday. He says that he will never forget the musical bond they shared.
Today, Rodriguez makes regular visits to the bedsides of patients and live streams playing music on his TikTok. He is planning to grow his followers by spreading more love through music.
He’s scheduled to travel to Puerto Rico with his group from church to help disadvantaged kids and he’s taking his guitar too.
He loves what he does and believes that his purpose is to help others. He explains that he feels a connection with the patients when he sings to them and it’s a wonderful feeling.
He recalls a time when he sang to a patient in a coma who woke up for the first time in weeks. It was a miracle, he says.
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