Edi was pregnant with her first child. Her pregnancy was considered normal until she started experiencing severe pains in her abdomen. She feared for her unborn child. Her husband rushed her to the hospital, and doctors diagnosed her with appendicitis. As part of her treatment, they put ice on her stomach. The doctors feared the treatment was unsuccessful and advised Edi to abort the child. They explained that abortion would be the best solution because they knew the child would be born with some kind of disability. You see, the doctors had misdiagnosed Edi and feared their odd treatment had jeopardized the fetus. Despite the dangers to herself and her child, and despite the possibility of the child being born with a disability, Edi refused the doctors’ advice. She was determined to have her baby.
On September 22, 1958, Edi gave birth to a son. As the doctors predicted, the child was born with a disability, congenital glaucoma. Edi’s son was born with damaged optic nerves which were responsible for transmitting visual information from the eyes to the brain. The boy was only partially blind. The extremely short-sighted boy could see everything but only from up close. By the time the boy was three-and-a-half years old, he had undergone 13 operations to try to improve his eyesight, but none of them worked. When he was seven, his parents sent him to a boarding school for visually impaired children because no local school would allow him to enroll. His family visited him at the boarding school once a month, and the boy returned home for holidays. Then, an incident happened which Edi’s son said was the worst moment of his life. The boy was playing the position of goalkeeper in a game of football — you and I would call this soccer — at the school for the visually impaired. It was Edi’s son’s first time as a goalie, and it would be his last. One of the players kicked the ball and it struck Edi’s son directly in the face. The force of the strike caused a hemorrhage and darkness fell over the boy forever.
Edi’s son may have lacked sight, but his hearing was perfect. At the young age of six, the boy began taking piano lessons. His interest in music led him to learn to play the drums, flute, guitar, saxophone, trombone, and trumpet. Following high school, Edi’s son went to college where he studied law. He supported himself through college by playing in piano bars. Once he earned his law degree, he worked as a court-appointed attorney. Edi’s son could have continued his occupation as an attorney and his story of achievement would certainly have been impressive, but, to our benefit, another career came calling.
Had Edi taken the advice of her doctors, we would never have heard a voice which has been on 15 solo studio albums, three greatest hits albums, nine complete operas, and has sold more the 75 million records worldwide… so far. Celine Dion once said, “If God would have a singing voice, he must sound a lot like…Andrea Bocelli.”
Sources:
1. John Hooper, “Tenor’s story acclaimed by anti-abortion campaigners,” The Guardian, June 10, 2010, accessed June 15, 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jun/10/andrea-bocelli-abortion-italy.
2. Thomas Edward, “Andrea Bocelli recalls the incident that left him blind: ‘That’s when darkness fell,’” Smooth Radio, September 9, 2024, accessed June 15, 2025, https://www.smoothradio.com/news/music/andrea-bocelli-blind-why-how/.