Karinya is a 15-year-old girl from Texas who, sadly, is dying of cancer, and as such, she lives at a hospice center in Austin. Karinya is also an ordinary girl. She has her favorite activities and her especially, her favorite bands. Karinya loves the English indie rock band Florence and the Machine, whose hits include “Dog Days Are Over” and “Shake It Out.” Before the band visited Austin last week, Karinya had been looking forward to going to their concert for a long time. She and her best friend had planned to go, according to Upworthy. But her sickness got in the way. So rather than Karinya going to see Florence and the Machine, the band went to her…
Every day, Karinya asked the staff at Hospice Austin, “Do you think I’ll be able to go? Do you think I’ll be able to go?”
But the cancer got the best of Karinya and she became bedridden. So the staff contacted the band, and singer Florence Welch was more than happy to honor Karinya’s request.
The day after the band had performed for a large audience in Austin, Florence and the guitarist visited Hospice Austin for an intimate private concert.
“All of us were crying. All the staff were crying. They brought our patient some T-shirts, a hoodie and a bag, a poster. Our patient wanted Florence to sign her arm with permanent marker so it wouldn’t come off and so Florence did,” Melinda Marble, who helped coordinate the private concert, told Rare.
The band played for Karinya, her closest friends, and family for 45 minutes. Florence held Karinya’s hand during the show, and Karinya sang along to all the songs.
Check out a clip from the moving performance here:
Did you enjoy that moment? Watch another clip here.
Were you also touched by Florence and the Machine and Hospice Austin’s staff’s effort to make this magical moment happen for Karinya? Please share it with your friends on Facebook.
Published by Newsner, please like
