SEATTLE – A video featuring cancer-stricken children, their nurses, doctors and parents lip-synching and dancing to the popular Kelly Clarkson song “Stronger” has become an online sensation.
Clarkson, in her own video message to the children at Seattle Children’s Hospital, said it was “amazing.”
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“It made my day. I know it’s making everybody else’s day online,” Clarkson said in a message posted on her website. “I just can’t wait to meet you.”
The youngsters, many attached to IVs and holding signs that say “Stronger,” “Fighter” and “Hope,” dance along with parents and medical staff. One child even rides a bike through the hallways of the hematology oncology floor. The video is part of a creative arts program with cancer patients at Seattle Children’s.
The kids’ video went online May 6. It was the idea of 22-year-old Chris Rumble, a patient at the hospital who was diagnosed with leukemia in April. He wanted to do something to share with his former hockey team in the central Washington town of Wenatchee.
“I’m everyone’s big brother and I have a lot of friends here at Seattle Children’s,” Rumble said on the hospital’s blog.
Dr. Douglas Hawkins said the patients and staff at Seattle Children’s have been thrilled by the response.
“This morning it was over 900,000 views. It’s really incredible,” he said Friday.
Hawkins said such projects help the kids maintain their spirits.
“When a child or young adult is treated for cancer, it puts their whole life on hold in a way that doesn’t seem fair at all,” Hawkins said. “It’s a fight for their life. But there are all these other normal things they want to be doing too, or things they want to focus on other than the medicine or the illness or their time in the hospital.”
Wrong ‘Gray’ author draws emails, calls
PARKLAND, Fla. – The author of a book titled “Shades of Gray” says her work is being confused with that of a chart-topping erotic fiction writer.
Susanne Jacoby Hale, an author based in Florida, says she has received emails, Facebook messages and phone calls from people thinking she wrote “Fifty Shades of Grey.”
“Fifty Shades of Grey,” by British author E L James, has sold millions of copies and become a sensation among women drawn to the sadomasochistic romance between a college student and a wealthy entrepreneur.
Hale’s book is about a dropout prevention teacher.
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports even Hale’s family members are being approached. Her husband, a medical sales representative, says doctors regularly approach him wanting to talk about the book.
Costner donates bus for baseball
DEADWOOD, S.D. – Actor Kevin Costner has donated a bus to the Lead-Deadwood Baseball Association.
The Rapid City Journal reports that the 1995 15-passenger Chevy Blue Bird will transport Little Leaguers and teams from the high school, American Legion and VFW.
Association vice president Bob Nelson Jr. says the actor’s representative had heard the association sought a vehicle and contacted Costner, who owns a casino in Deadwood.
Actress throws caution to wind, backs Obama
WASHINGTON – Betty White says she usually keeps her political views private but in this presidential election strongly favors one candidate.
As she prepares to visit the Smithsonian Institution and National Zoo this week, White told The Associated Press she “very, very much favors” President Barack Obama in the election.
The 90-year-old actress said Friday she is very bipartisan and has stayed away from politics all of her life.
She usually never says who she is for or against because she doesn’t want to turn off any of her adoring fans.
White says in this year’s election, she likes what Obama has done and “how he represents us.”
Her comments come after Hollywood turned out at George Clooney’s home to raise $15 million for Obama’s re-election, a record for a single fundraiser.
– From news service reports
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