This is a video put together by one of our local hockey stars who was recently diagnosed with leukemia. I thought they did an excellent job on it and found it worth sharing. He's the one in the orange shirt. The local newspaper article follows the video.
WENATCHEE — What started out as a “back-at-ya” video from one hockey player to his former Wenatchee Wild teammates has turned into a national sensation.
Chris Rumble, a former Wild player and now a team employee, shot the video at Children’s Hospital last Saturday after finishing a 35-day stay for treatment of leukemia. He meant for it to be a return present to his former Wild teammates after they shot him a video for his birthday while playing a series in Alaska last month.
Rumble posted his video on YouTube on Sunday and by this morning it had been viewed more than 250,000 times. He was interviewed by Seattle television stations on Monday, did a phone interview with the Today Show on Tuesday, and will appear on CNN on Wednesday.
Singing superstar Kelly Clarkson, whose song “Stronger” Rumble used for the video, posted links to the video on her Facebook page and Twitter on Tuesday with the comment, “Oh my goodness y’all have to see this! It’s beautiful! I can’t wait to visit these kids and nurses! It’s Seattle Children’s Hospital, I believe. God Bless y’all!
“It’s gone crazy,” Rumble said in a phone interview Tuesday.
He explained that after the Wild players made him the birthday video, he started thinking of ways to reciprocate. He decided to enlist the help of his new “teammates” — the other children being treated for blood cancers and diseases at the hospital.
He said he spent several days planning out what he wanted to do and listened to a lot of songs before settling on the Clarkson song.
“Now it will be known as the cancer anthem,” he joked.
Two film students were enlisted by the hospital to shoot the video while Rumble directed — and performed —in it. He said he asked the nurses not to administer medicine that can make the children tired and sick for about two hours last Saturday while they shot the video footage.
Former Wenatchee Wild player Chris Rumble finds ways to pass the time while undergoing treatment leukemia at Seattle Children’s Hospital.
The video features a number of patients singing the words to the Clarkson song, which features the phrase “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” Rumble said many of the young children didn’t know the song, so he taught it to them and sang with them.
Their voices don’t appear on the video but rather they appear to be mouthing the words while the Clarkson song plays in the background.
Several doctors, nurses, hospital staff and parents joined in the fun, singing and dancing to the upbeat song.
Rumble said a young boy with missing front teeth who ended up being a “star” in the video just wandered down the hospital hall when he heard the music playing and asked to join in.
“Everyone was genuinely having fun,” he added.
Rumble them edited the video footage that night at his parents’ home in Kent and posted it online the next day. And it was an almost instant hit.
“The nurses said it has totally transformed the floor,” Rumble said. “Kids are coming out of their rooms and hanging out with each other. Everyone is on a much happier level.”
Rumble, 22, was diagnosed with leukemia on April 3 after going to a walk-in clinic for a swollen lymph gland in his neck. He was admitted to Children’s Hospital that night and started his first round of chemotherapy two days later.
He was discharged from the hospital last Saturday, the same day he shot the video, and is staying with his parents. He starts his second round of chemotherapy on Saturday. If he does not get sick during the eight-day treatment, he will be able to stay at home.
But if he develops any complications, he’ll be back in the hospital for another month.
If that happens, he said, watch for another video.
“If I’m stuck there again, there will be more. You can count on that,” he said.
(Message edited by doubled on May 09, 2012)
(Message edited by jerry_haughton on May 10, 2012)
