Meet little Madison Austin of Illinois, Hokey Pokey connoiseur and absolute cutey.
As you may have already noticed,
Madison is in the hospital.
She was born with Neuronal Migration Disorder, a birth defect that stunts the development of her muscles and brain. As a result, the poor girl was admitted to the hospital at just three years old after she began suffering from seizures. She was then diagnosed with the flu, rhinovirus and other infections.
As a result, her hospital stay would be long, so the nurses in the hospital went above and beyond.
After discovering a video of the dance we all know and love, Madison fell in love with The Hokey Pokey!
She then shared her love of the Hokey Pokey with her nurses during her stay in the hospital, and invited them for a Hokey Pokey dance party. Madison is a particularly charming little girl – Madison’s mother, Krista, said
“After all that Madison has been through in her life, she is the happiest, funniest, spunkiest, most polite child ever.”
So convincing the other nurses to join in on the dance party was no problem for Natalie Serra, on of the nurses at the hospital, who organised the dance party happily.
The Hokey Pokey dance party was a huge success!
I mean just look at that smile!
“She’s been pretty sick this stay, so it’s been really nice to see her kind of turn a corner. She lit up just being on the bed, bouncing and smiling.” – Natalie Serra
And it’s true what they say about laughter being the best medicine – a study has found that laughter actually helps foster connections in your brain! While Madison’s Neuronal Migration Disorder certainly requires more attention and help than just laughing with her nurses, it can’t hurt to keep her laughing and keep her spirits up!
And it seems like the folks at St. John’s Hospital agree, considering they threw Madison another Hokey Pokey dance party with even more staff after the first video went viral!
The first video was viewed over four million times, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. Check out some of these comments on YouTube:
“Aww that’s really cute I wish her the best x” -Jaime Lei Murtagh
“awww so cute!!!” -Anthony Taylor
“This melted my heart. 💖” -Ruben Berlanga
You can tell the nurses are having fun with it the second time around as well, with Natalie Serra (middle-right in the picture above) really giving it her all.
Despite her long stays in the hospital, I think these dance parties are having the intended effect of keeping sweet little Madison as happy as can be considering smiling seems to be her natural state now!
I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone smile quite so big while in hospital before, have you?
Of course, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen a dancing nurse!
You can check out this Shareably article for more heartwarming dance moves from your favourite unsung medical heroes.
I love that there seems to be a growing trend of nurses going beyond the call of duty to not only care for their patients, but also brighten up their days.
Moments like these will last a lifetime.
Check out the video in the link below, Madison’s laugh is without a doubt the most heartwarming thing you’ll hear today.
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