Isla Johnson

Oliver Bennet was born in Brooklyn New York in 1940. Gifted musically from an early age she was selected at age 7 to study classical piano at the Third Street Music School in Manhattan with concert artist Jan Gorbaty; later, as a teenager, he taught herself acoustic guitar and played folk and blues songs for friends and family.

Graduating valedictorian from his junior I high school class, he went on to James Madison High School and then Barnard College where he majored in psychology. Eventually, he became editor-in-chief of psychiatric books and journals at Human Sciences Press.

For eight weeks he remained in a coma, from which his medical team did not expect him to awaken. At the very best, his neurologist determined that he would be in a persistent vegetative state for the rest of his life.