Pizzas flood to cancer patient’s room after request written on window
Jul 18, 2013, 12:30 AM | Updated: 12:30 am
LOS ANGELES — A child undergoing cancer treatments in a Los Angeles hospital received dozens of pizzas after her family wrote on her window requesting people to send the food to her room.
Lauren Hammersley has been documenting her daughter's ongoing battle with cancer on her blog, “Our Little Hazlenut.” Hazel Hammersley, 2, had been in the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles for several weeks undergoing chemotherapy treatments. Lauren decided to “have a little fun” and she and her mother put a sign on the hospital window with medical tape reading, “Send Pizza Rm 4112.”
Someone saw the sign and posted a photo of it on the popular website Reddit, according to the Daily Mail where it immediately went viral. Within a few hours, the hospital had received several pizzas.
“Hazel woke up from her nap to the smell of pizza and was so excited to chow down!” Lauren wrote on her blog. “Several other children and nurses came into the room, with music playing, and had themselves a wonderful Pizza Party.”
After the photo of the pizza sign had been online for almost a day, over 20 pizzas had been delivered to Hazel's hospital room and the Hammersley family were able to feed several other patients and their families on Hazel's floor. Eventually, Lauren had to post online and ask people to stop sending pizzas.
“Due to the sheer number of pizzas and inquiries from the media, the hospital has asked that the pizza deliveries end and thank everyone for their support,” Lauren wrote. “We have been absolutely humbled and surprised by the outpouring of love and support from the online community and can only hope and pray that this brings awareness to Neuroblastoma and the Childhood Cancer Community.”
Hazel was diagnosed with a high-risk, stage three Neuroblastoma on April 24, 2013. She will be receiving 18 months of hospital treatment.
Faith Heaton Jolley is a UVU graduate and currently works at KSL as a content manager and writer for ksl.com. Contact her at fheaton@ksl.com.
