DR. "PATCH" ADAMS VISITS JESSICA!!!

Hi To Everyone,

Yesterday was a very special day for Jessica.

Let me start from the beginning......I received a call that Dr. "Patch" Adams was coming to the Hospital San Jose Tec to deliver a speech and he was going to visit with some patients while here. I managed to meet him on the 3rd floor which is pediatrics and briefly told him about Jessica and her being here for 7 months. He asked specifically for her room number and said he would come up to see her.


We waited with anticipation for his arrival and yes he showed up, in all his "clown" get-up. You see if you remember he is the doctor that was featured in the movie "Patch Adams" with Robin Williams. "Patch" believes in using humor with patients and having that "special connection" through humor and happiness! Dr. Patch Adams is the founder and director of Gesundheit! Institute, a model of community and medicine that embraces the importance of care, creativity, and fun.


So, in he walks and proceeds straight over to Jessica's bed and asks if he could hold her hand - she says yes. He then starts to ask Jessica about herself and why she is here. As she starts to recount her "story", he is amazed at all that she has been through and says to Jessica that she is a true miracle and that her story needs to be told! He asks her who is responsible for this "miracle" and she says: "God and Dr. Cantu!" With that he says "I want to meet this Dr. Cantu". So I run out of the room to get Dr. Cantu who just happened to be on the floor with another patient Fern.


In walks Dr. Cantu and he shakes hands with Dr. Patch Adams. They begin to talk about Jessica and her history and prognosis and he then congratulates Dr. Cantu for his "amazing work" with Jessica. We all clapped for Dr. Cantu and I will say it was really very special to honor him in that way!


I then asked to take a picture of the two "doctors". "Patch" said to "Cantu" - "Let's make it a funny picture Dr. CAN-DO" Here is the picture:


I will say that he stayed with Jessica for at least 20 minutes. He really wanted to talk with her, hear her story, and connect with her. He then began to recite this poem by Emily Dickinson called "Hope Is The Thing With Feathers". In a strange coincidence, the quote for the day on Jessica's message board was all about Hope! Here is the poem he recited to her:

Hope

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

(Emily Dickinson defines hope by comparing it to a bird).

As he was getting ready to leave he asked for our address as he wants to send Jessica an autographed copy of one of his books and also one of his clown noses. We then marched out of her room as we followed him down the hall with seven of us all together in a giant pair of underwear that he brought along with him and me in his chicken hat. As we went down the hall we quickly stopped in Fern's room and then in Elena's room as well. As we then followed him down the hallway towards the nurses station there were people and patients all lined up on both sides of the hallway- some standing, some in wheelchairs, some young, some old, cheering him on!!! It was truly a special day and another "chapter" for the book and story of Jessica's Journey" to be told!

Till then...................


With love and a smile,
Sarah Gina & Jessica*


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