Hospitals are not a fun place to be, but kind-hearted Reddit users made it delightful for 2-year-old cancer-stricken Hazel Hammersley by sending 20 pizzas to the oncology department at Children's Hospital in Los Angeles.
Hazel was diagnosed with high-risk stage 3 neuroblastoma in April, and has been in the hospital since July 4 trying to regain her white blood cell count in order to be released.
With the help of her mother, Lauren Hammersley, Hazel taped a sign in her hospital room window that read: "Send Pizza RM 4112."
According Our Little Hazelnut, a blog run by her mother, the sign was up for several days without a singe phone call. However, everything changed when the photo of Hazel's window made it onto Reddit.
"While at home, we began hearing news that several pizza's were being delivered to the hospital. After only a few short hours, we were told that someone had taken a picture on the street of our sign, had posted it to Reddit.com and it had reached no. 1," Lauren wrote. "Hazel woke up from her nap to the smell of pizza and was so excited to chow down! Several other children and nurses came into the room, with music playing, and had themselves a wonderful Pizza Party."
Hazel's blog, donation site and social media pages also went viral after the photo was posted.
"However, 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. "But I ask the community to please continue supporting Hazel and other children like her through making donations to our funds or to Childhood Cancer Research. "
The Children's Hospital of Los Angeles also released a statement thanking everyone for the pizza donations, but "NO MORE PIZZA IS NEEDED."
