This is the heartwarming moment hospital staff performed an impromptu dance routine to cheer up a ballet-obsessed five-year-old girl battling cancer.
Isobel Fletcher was left beaming with joy after kind-hearted staff members pulled out their best ballet moves when she arrived at hospital for chemotherapy treatment.
Comical footage shows the schoolgirl giggling away as Dr Baylon Kamalarajan and Emma Mander tip-toe onto the ward while wearing multi-coloured tutus.
The pair can be seen attempting to spin and pirouette to the Swan Lake theme music as delighted Isobel laughs on in the background at Worcestershire Royal Hospital.
Emma, who is senior play specialist, said she wanted to surprise Isobel with the routine and enlisted the help of consultant paediatrician Dr Kamalarajan on Friday (23/10).
The ballet-mad youngster is currently undergoing chemotherapy treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia after she relapsed earlier this year.
Sharing footage of the pair’s routine online, the hospital wrote: “When Ballet-mad Izzy came into our Children’s Clinic for her cancer treatment, two of the team surprised her with a very special routine.
“Huge thanks to Baylon & Emma for the lovely surprise, and well done Izzy for *literally* keeping them on their toes!”
Isobel, of Worcester, had previously completed two years of treatment in May 2019 after she was originally diagnosed in May 2017.
Dawn Forbes, the children and young people’s oncology nurse at the cancer unit at the hospital, said: “Izzy is a delightful little girl and is taking everything in her stride.
“We thought it would be a nice way to cheer up. She always has ballet books with her and brings them in to read during her treatment.
“She was in to have a dressing changed last week, which can be quite an anxious for a child, so we thought it would help relax her a little.
“They both did a very good job, they showed some impressive moves. They only had a quick two minute chat outside the room before coming up with the routine.
“Both of them have children of a similar age I believe, so they knew what they were doing – sort of. The video has been received amazingly well online.
“Izzy continues to smile throughout her treatment, which is going well so far, and is an inspiration to us all.”
Isobel was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in January 2017 – three days before her second birthday.
Parents Dave and Vicky found out she had cancer after a cute photograph of her falling asleep in a swing turned out to be a symptom of the disease.
They also became worried when she seemed to suffer from a never-ending series of colds and their fears worsened when spots appeared on her skin.
The spots appeared on a Thursday night, and by the Saturday, Izzy had been diagnosed with leukaemia.
She was transferred to Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and treatment was administered there and in Worcester.
In the ensuing two years and four months of treatment, she had to take 752 doses of chemotherapy, visited clinics 45 times and had 94 visits from community nurses.
She also had to undergo sedation 14 times, endure six blood or platelet transfusions and spent 55 nights in hospital.
Dad Dave, 41, an auditor, said previously: “She has grown up very quickly and been subjected to medicine she doesn’t like but has taken everything in her stride so far.
“When she was diagnosed it came out of the blue. We were both in real shock as it happened so fast
“It was a big unknown. We didn’t know what was going to happen at that stage or what the future held.
“You get a bit sentimental, looking at pictures of her before she was ill – you just realise how much she’s been through since at so young.
“The picture on the swing, I though was a cute moment and just took a photo of her as you do.
“It was only afterwards we realised it was all part of the symptoms and what I’d captured was her displaying signs of something more sinister.”
