Kelly Clarkson: Young cancer patients' 'Stronger' video a big hit
** FILE ** In this Sept. 22, 2011, file photo, singer Kelly Clarkson poses for a portrait in Los Angeles. 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. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)
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SEATTLE (AP) 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 Childrens Hospital, said it was amazing.
It made my day. I know its making everybody elses day online, Clarkson said in a message posted on her website. I just cant 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 Childrens.
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 old hockey team in the central Washington town of Wenatchee
Im everyones big brother and I have a lot of friends here at Seattle Childrens, Rumble said on the hospitals blog.
Dr. Douglas Hawkins said the patients and staff at Seattle Childrens have been thrilled by the response.
This morning it was over 900,000 views. Its really incredible, he said Friday.
Hawkins said such projects help the kids maintain their spirits.
When a child! or youn g adult is treated for cancer, it puts their whole life on hold in a way that doesnt seem fair at all, Hawkins said. Its 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.