VIDEO: Florence & the Machine Sings for a Sick Little Girl

15-year-old Karinya Chen was suffering from bone cancer. Her sickness was so advanced that she couldn’t leave the hospital to attend the concert of her favorite band. So the hospital’s staff contacted the band’s management and all decided the concert must come to Karinya. Unfortunately, in October, Karinya passed away.

She touched millions of people around the world when she perfectly harmonized with the British Grammy-winning band while lying in her hospice ward in May. Karinya had bought tickets to see the band in Austin. But as her bone cancer advanced, doctors said she was too sick to go. However, staff at Hospice Austin’s Christopher House brought the concert to Karinya.
They contacted Florence Welch, the 29-year-old lead singer, who dropped all her travel plans to hold an impromptu private gig at Karinya’s side.

A video of the scene, posted on YouTube, went viral, with millions of viewers in just a few minutes.

Florence held Karinya’s hand as they both sang Shake It Out and Dog Days Are Over backed by bandmate Rob Ackroyd on guitar. Karinya’s mother, Jennifer took to Instagram to express her gratitude towards Welch, writing, ‘@florence of #Florence&TheMachine is such a beautiful and kind soul!. She brought so much joy to all of us today. What a blessing!’
She added: ‘Florence is not only an awesome artist but an even more amazing human being! She made my sweet pear so happy today.’

Last week, just five days before her death, Karinya spoke to NBC News with remarkable strength as she contemplated her disease. ‘Honestly, I think the biggest thing is to not worry and fear,’ Karinya said. ‘I tear up a little bit when I say that because it’s hard fighting and it’s a difficult thing every single day and just to get past every single day.

‘But you just have to remember that there’s always tomorrow and if you take it one day at a time and just tell yourself don’t worry and don’t take things for granted and tell yourself that you are loved and you are blessed then it makes it a lot easier to fight.’ says dailymail.co.uk.

Hospice Austin’s Clinical Educator Lev Baesh was one of Karinya’s many caregivers: “I think Hospice is really valuable for people who are suffering through their illness. But Karinya didn’t suffer through her illness very much. I think she was really just one of those kids who was able to kind of stand above it for much of the time,” said Baesh. “She was one of those young adults who knew what she needed and how she wanted us to take care of her, which made our work kind of easy and allowed us to provide for her what it was that she said she needed.”, says for kxan.com.

Hospice Austin is a non-profit that provides end of life care for people in Central Texas from the very young to the very old. They provide specialized pediatric care, charity care for the poor, and uninsured and extensive bereavement programs.

Karinya Chen is survived by her parents and her 9-year-old brother, along with many other family members and friends from the Kirby Hall School.

Anyone can write on Evonews. Start writing!