Interpreter channels healing power of music through sign

King of Kings Community Church in Manahawkin was a happening place to be for Christian worship on Sunday, May 20. A seven-piece contemporary Christian band called Kept had churchgoers moving and grooving to a number of energetic and inspirational songs, both covers and originals. But the quietest band member of the group appeared to reach the audience the loudest.

Manahawkin resident Randi LaRocca is Kept’s sign language interpreter. Nearly 10 years ago, she saw the band playing at a recovery ministry dedicated to helping addicts seek help through God. Infatuated with the band’s music, she introduced herself and asked to join the group as an interpreter. Although the band was a bit hesitant about her offer, they invited her to accompany them at a later Jesus Fest held at Manahawkin Lake Park. It was then the band realized her stage presence was a blessing.

Photo via Shout Life
Signing with Kept helps keep LaRocca in good spirits.

“We’re all on the same page and we all get to sing,” said Kevin Gheoghegan, Kept’s lead singer and lead guitarist. “We’re like the Beatles; everyone gets to lead – until someone brings Yoko Ono,” he joked.“Kept is kind of like a music missionary. A song can bring gospel around the world,” he added.

For King of Kings Community Church member David Paul, one of finger-style guitar’s biggest stars, the lure of Kept’s music and its connection to God is easy to understand.

“After dealing with many of life’s tragedies, I found myself driving to (King of Kings Community Church) and I have no idea why,” he pondered. “These people here saved my life, literally. Kept is half of the worship sermon, and Kevin and Randi and the whole band are amazing. When I first came here, I stayed because the band’s music was so unique and so great.”

LaRocca said audience members often tell her that her song interpretations are like theater. Chalking it up to her experiences starring in off-Broadway plays and commercials as a kid, she said she brings out the meaning of the songs through her body, her expressions and her hands. Her interpretations are sometimes so moving that her “groupies” even cry.

“I really enjoy watching her do her thing,” said Gheoghegan’s wife, Dorothy. “She dances as she interprets and really makes it a song. She’s very artistic.”

LaRocca decided to learn sign language when she was just 7 years old. Her lifelong best friend, whom she had known since she was 4, was told her eardrums had almost completely disintegrated and she would be deaf by the time she turned 30.

“That was absolutely my motivation for learning how to sign,” said LaRocca. “I told my friend, ‘Don’t worry, I’m going to learn sign language. You’ll never be alone; we’ll always be together, and I’ll teach you’” (how to sign).

LaRocca began studying American Sign Language (ASL) dictionaries at the local library in New York when she was 9 years old. A few years later, she began attending sign language classes wherever they were offered. Between ages 14 and 26, she obtained eight certifications in ASL and English Sign Language (ESL). She is also fluent in German, Japanese and British sign language, which she taught herself. She is now in the process of acquiring an associate of applied science degree in American Sign Language Interpreting at Ocean County College, with only one class to complete before graduation.

“Many people think sign language is universal and every state and every country uses the same gestures to communicate, but it’s really another culture in itself,” expressed LaRocca. “Many of the same signs mean different things in different parts of the world. If you hold your left palm facing down and you stick your right thumb underneath and circle your wrist around, that’s the sign for ‘basement’ in American Sign Language, which is practically the same sign for ‘I love you’ in Japanese Sign Language.”

Photo courtesy of  Randi LaRocca
LaRocca continues to do what she 
loves despite her illness.

LaRocca moved to Ship Bottom during her early 20s and began managing the local 7-Eleven convenience store. After signing with a number of the store’s hearing-impaired customers, she began landing jobs as a sign language teacher, interpreter and tutor. She worked with students and staff of all ages wherever she was needed, including at schools, libraries, churches and show places. She said she even taught a group of actors how to sign for a silent film that aired on MTV during the 1990s. Things were really shaping up for LaRocca – that is, until a few years ago.

A couple of years after joining Kept, LaRocca began experiencing shortness of breath and was often sick. She visited several doctors and was diagnosed with chronic asthma and pneumonia. But after coughing up green sputum and blood, she knew something more was very wrong. She was eventually put on steroids to counteract her illness, but the medication ignited the growth of a pseudotumor in her head that hemorrhaged in her optic nerves, blinding her in her right eye.

LaRocca was told she was going to die. In an attempt to save her life, doctors placed a shunt in her body to drain excess fluid from her head to her stomach, where it’s later digested. During surgery, doctors realized over 95 percent of her trachea had collapsed. They determined she had been suffering from tracheomalacia, probably since birth.

Looking back on her childhood, LaRocca said she remembers sometimes turning purple and losing her breath for minutes at a time. But as a kid, she didn’t really think anything of it; she just went back to playing. People around her assumed it was a symptom of stress.

LaRocca now suffers from several autoimmune diseases, including tracheomalacia, bronchomalacia, bronchiolitis and BOOP. The others are so rare they aren’t even in the database yet. So she’s the study, research and experiment for these illnesses.

Within the last two years, LaRocca has undergone 26 surgeries. She now has a tracheotomy and carries around an oxygen tank wherever she goes. She is in desperate need of a lung transplant, but her immune system is so compromised doctors are afraid she won’t survive the surgery.

“Basically, my body is eating itself up,” said LaRocca. “It’s eating all my cartilage. And doctors have said that they don’t know what it is, but it’s worse than lupus and leukemia. Isn’t that nuts? But I’m still here!” she added with enthusiasm.

LaRocca said she spends every day feeling like she’s battling the flu. The only instances when she ever really feels well is after receiving high doses of intravenous immunoglobulins, or IVIGs, which are given to immune deficient patients who have little or no means of producing antibodies. But without help from her health insurance, she says she can’t afford to pay for the medication. So she only gets it when she’s admitted to a hospital under dire circumstances.

Due to her condition, LaRocca is unable to work. She is highly susceptible to bacteria and infections and has been instructed by doctors to stay away from anyone who could get her sick. She has trouble making it to Kept’s weekly band practices, yet she tries to play at concerts when she’s feeling up to it. She had to put her college study on hold, although she hopes to go back to Ocean County College to complete her associate’s degree.

“I shouldn’t really be around people for my own sake, but that kind of plastic bubble doesn’t exist,” said LaRocca. “If God wants me, he can call me home. If he needs me here on Earth for research, than I’m going to live in the moment and take care of my family. Who knows? God could heal me.”

Photo via KOKCC
Members of King of Kings Community Church are
happy to have LaRocca and the rest of the band
with them.

Members of Kept and the church are very supportive of LaRocca and her needs.

“The band gives Randi a sense of purpose, especially since she’s been too sick to continue with school,” said LaRocca’s husband, Keith, one of Kept’s three guitarists. “We all love playing with each other. It’s about the adventure and most importantly, God. We always pray for each other at practice,” he added.

“Randi’s really involved with the church and she’s really inspirational; she never complains,” said Janice Dryburgh, who is married to King of Kings Pastor Michael Dryburgh. “There’s strength in each and every one of the band members. They’re singing and praising God, no matter what happens in their lives.

"'Wherever we go, the audience says that I bring the songs to life,” Randi remarked. “People tell me that it looks like I’m singing. They say, ‘We really saw your soul come out.’”


This article was published in The SandPaper.