Brian Simpson walked into Heinz Hall carrying two black cases yesterday, one containing his oboe, the other his oxygen tank.

Simpson credits both for keeping him alive.

	Doreena Balestreire/Post-Gazette
	Brian Simpson listens to Cynthia Koledo DeAlmeida, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's principal oboist, play the instrument yesterday at Heinz Hall.

Simpson, 33, has been an asthmatic since he was in his teens.

In June 2002, he went into respiratory arrest. He was flown to UPMC Shadyside, where he spent two weeks on a ventilator. He said he was given six to nine months to live by one doctor, and turned down as a lung transplant candidate because he was too sick.

He believes the oboe saved his life.

Simpson, of Emporium, Cameron County, played the oboe a bit when he was in school, but his main instrument was the French horn. Then, as he was lying in bed, struggling to breathe, he read an article sent to him by a former music teacher about an asthmatic in England who took up the oboe and found improvement in his lung function.

That made sense to Simpson, who is both an asthmatic and a respiratory therapist. Playing the oboe requires the oboist to breathe deeply, then forcefully exhale a very small stream of air through two reeds.

When he first picked up the instrument, he had little luck and could only play for a few minutes at a shot. Then he received a copy of a compact disc that featured Cynthia Koledo DeAlmeida, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's principal oboist, playing little known works for the oboe.

Simpson said he was inspired. He worked up to playing 2 1/2 to three hours every day. He also worked his way out of bed and back to working part time. Now he is working full time at Elk Regional Health Center in St. Marys, Elk County.

He's still not completely recovered: A portable tank pumps a blast of oxygen through a tube into his nostrils about every third breath. When he auditioned for an amateur orchestra, he felt he had to warn the conductor in advance that the oxygen tank for the wind instrumentalist was no joke.

Yesterday, he met DeAlmeida for the first time, played the oboe for her and received some pointers from her.

Simpson and DeAlmeida both hope that his results can be replicated.

"I've had pretty dramatic improvement in my lung function," he said. He believes playing the oboe, which he calls aerobics for the lungs, is responsible for his increased ability to breathe because he has not changed any other aspect of his life.

Yet since he has resumed playing, his use of steroids, which he has taken for 16 years to help control his asthma, has been reduced by more than 80 percent.

"If I had tried this when I started getting sick, I may not have gotten this sick," Simpson said.

DeAlmeida is excited about the therapeutic possibilities of her chosen instrument.

"If this can improve people's lungs, I'm going to be the poster child for asthma," she said.

She has contacted Dr. Bruce Rabin, medical director of the UPMC Healthy Lifestyles Program, to discuss including the oboe in its music therapy program.

Rabin said the music therapy program is usually associated with people listening to music to reduce pain and promote healing.

After he spoke to DeAlmeida, he said he conducted a literature review and could not find any articles on studying the physiological effects on the lungs from playing oboe, but perhaps those effects should be studied.

"What took place here is quite dramatic," he said. "This is affecting a tissue of the body. I don't think anybody's looked at it."

Yesterday, when Simpson met with DeAlmeida, it wasn't all just talk about asthma. There was a lot of talk about the oboe. DeAlmeida checked out his reeds and introduced him to Renate Sakins, who she said could make him reeds that would help his playing. She also found a screw on his oboe that needed to be adjusted.

"Do you mind playing for us?" DeAlmeida asked.

"I've embarrassed myself before," Simpson said.

He held up his oboe and tried one of DeAlmeida's reeds.

"This is much easier to play," he said after he ran through a couple of scales.

Then, for a few moments, Simpson's inspiration became his teacher. She told him to hold his head up and loosen his lips.

"Don't put your head down, bring the oboe to you," she said.

He and his friend Dan Sensenig, the high school band director from Emporium, also had orchestra seats to listen to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra play yesterday, with DeAlmeida on oboe.

During intermission, DeAlmeida asked if he had listened for the oboe, which he said he had.

"It was awesome," Simpson said.