Singer Drake Visits Age 11 Girl in Hospital for Birthday After Seeing Her Viral Video
Internet challenges have gotten a bad name, and that’s understandable. Many (if not most) of them turn out to be dangerous.
Dares such as the fire challenge and the hot-water challenge have been rightly derided. After all, they caused terrible injuries and, in a few cases, cost lives.
Yet not every stunt spread by social media has a negative side to it. For instance, there’s the Kiki challenge, and one little girl’s rendition of it earned her the visit of a lifetime.
If you’re not familiar with it, the Kiki challenge involves people dancing in public to rapper Drake’s hit song “In My Feelings.” (Know Your Meme says it’s also known as the Keke challenge or the In My Feelings challenge.)
The stylings sometimes turned silly. A few renditions even included people dancing alongside moving cars.
Those videos earned a warning from the National Transportation Safety Board. But the dance I want to talk about is, well, hardly a dance at all.
It was performed by Sofia Sanchez, a Chicago-area 11 year old who wanted nothing more than to participate in the challenge. There was just one problem: Sofia had a bad heart and was stuck in the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital.
Diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a heart condition that, according to the Chicago Tribune, requires a heart transplant for the individual to survive. She had already undergone surgery to implant a ventricular assist device that would help keep her blood flowing.
“She came in with heart failure,” pediatric cardiologist Dr. Bradley Marino told People magazine. “She was so ill.”
In order to participate in the Kiki challenge, Sofia needed one hospital orderly to push her wheelchair and another to wheel her IV pole. The young girl did manage to stand and strike a pose as Drake’s voice cut in during the song’s verse.
Sofia also uploaded a video begging the rapper to come and visit her in the hospital, saying, “I hope you can come and see me at the Lurie Children’s hospital, because I love your music and you’re awesome. Your concert is this Saturday at the United Center, and I want to go, but I can’t cause I’m stuck here, so I want you to come and cheer me up for my birthday.”
Of course, she never expected that a busy entertainer like Drake would actually do it. But that’s exactly what WRC-TV said that he did.
The “God’s Plan” rapper simply stepped into her hospital room and said, “You asked me to come, and I’m here. I’m so happy I got to see you.”
Sofia was so shocked that she initially thought the man standing before her wasn’t actually Drake. But when she realized he was the real deal, she settled in, and the pair (according to Sofia’s mother) “were like two girlfriends.”
Later, Drake posted on his Instagram account that they talked about “Bieber and owls and basketball.” Dr. Marino also said that the pop star’s gesture truly lifted Sophia’s spirits.
“Having this one special day where she doesn’t have to be a sick patient, and doesn’t have to be a girl waiting for a heart, and is just a little girl who is a fan of a great artist? It’s pretty special,” he said.
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