Health

Actions

Hospital brings 3,000 cats to cancer patient

Posted at 5:22 PM, Aug 06, 2012
and last updated 2012-08-06 17:22:02-04

(CNN) — Seattle Children’s Hospital’s oncology unit, which gave us the “Stronger” video that went viral in May, is now bringing smiles to the faces of cat lovers everywhere with a new project.

Maga Barzallo Sockemtickem, 16, has been confined to her hospital room for nearly a month while undergoing post-bone marrow transplant treatment, according to the hospital’s On The Pulse blog.

The thing she misses most? Her cat, Merry.

So Seattle Children’s asked Facebook fans to send in pictures of their favorite pets – and received 3,000 photos in response. The hospital staff then combined the cat photos with purring sounds to create a slideshow for the teenage cancer patient.

It’s not unusual for cancer patients to be placed in isolation for months at a time due to their compromised immune systems, according to the blog.

“I can’t tell you how it feels sometimes, feeling disconnected and cut off from the world, and then with something like cat pictures bringing me back,” Sockemtickem said in the post. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”