This Viral Video of Nurse Singing Christmas Song With Cancer Patient Will Make You Smile

Battling cancer can be an emotionally and physically taxing experience and this is especially true during the holiday season. That is why a viral video of an oncology nurse singing with her patient has touched the hearts of people around the country. 

Alex Collazo works at Tristar Centennial’s Sarah Cannon Cancer Center in Nashville, Tennessee. Recently, she admitted Penn Pennington, a 67-year old patient who was coming in for five days worth of intensive chemotherapy.

Pennington was previously diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2010, but the cancer had been in remission until now. This time around, the cancer has been diagnosed as being more aggressive and life-threatening. As you can imagine, this was challenging news to receive, especially just days before the holidays. 

Collazo, who is just 24, recognized that Pennington was feeling down about the entire situation and immediately went into action trying to learn more about her patient. It didn’t take the two long to discover that they both have a passion for music. In fact, Pennington has been a regular performer at country bars throughout Nashville for over 30 years and even got to play the Grand Ole Opry. 

From there Collazo offered to bring her guitar for him to play and when Pennington was feeling well, they took a moment to play and celebrate the season with a rendition of “O Holy Night.” Pennington’s daughter filmed the performance and posted it to her Facebook account where it quickly garnered attention and went viral.

Not only was it a touching moment, but it also turns out that Collazo has a beautiful voice and is talented at much more than nursing. According to Pennington, the duet provided a much-needed escape and allowed him to forget that he was in the hospital for a moment.  

Pennington and his family truly appreciated Collazo going above and beyond to lift spirits, but the young nurse says the duet as just another way to bring compassion to her job through the healing power of music.