A beautiful Christmas duet between a Nashville guitarist undergoing chemo treatments and his oncology nurse has recently gone viral, warming the hearts of people everywhere.
According to TODAY , the touching and impromptu number was filmed by the patient’s daughter, who then shared the video on Facebook, turning her dad and his nurse into overnight musical sensations.
Penn Pennington, 67, was diagnosed with low-grade follicular lymphoma in 2010 and went into remission after six bouts of chemo treatments.
However, just this past summer he learned his cancer has come back.
“I’ve been told that it’s more life threatening, it’s more aggressive, fast-growing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma,” Pennington told TODAY .
He added, “The particular plan for treating this strain of lymphoma has been inpatient in the hospital, five days worth of chemo. Because it’s so aggressive, we’re having to hit it really hard.”
Last week, Pennington was admitted to the Sarah Cannon Cancer Institute with understandably low spirits.
“To find out the cancer is back … it’s not something that anybody really wants to hear about themselves,” he said.
His oncology nurse, Alex Collazo, was an uplifting surprise that Pennington wasn’t expecting, but one that he definitely needed.
“When she came into the room, she was just so bubbly and so positive about trying to make sure that I felt comfortable, that I felt reassured that they were going to be on top of this and that they were going to be here for me,” he said.
In no time at all the two had bonded and discovered they both share a passion for music, especially for playing the guitar.
Collazo decided she wanted to do something special for Pennington to lift his spirits, so one day she brought in her own guitar for him to play.
First, the pair joined vocal powers and sang Elvis Presley’s “I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You,” while Pennington strummed along on Collazo’s guitar.
But it’s their Christmas duet of “O Holy Night” that has truly struck a powerful cord with people.
In the video, Pennington plucks softly at the guitar strings while Collazo sings the verses.
Then, as they reach the chorus, the two join their voices together for a powerful and emotional harmony that even the worst Scrooge would shed a tear over.
Pennington’s daughter, Brandi Mykle Leath, shared the clip of the pair singing together on Facebook , where it has since been viewed more than 372,000 times.
Collazo said she considers cheering up her patients to be part of her job.
“I’ve made it a point in my career to bring happiness and laughter to my patients because they’re going through such a dark time in their lives,” she explained.
RELATED STORIES
“They’re having a rough go and I really wanted to make a point for all my patients to help them forget that they’re in the hospital and what they’re going through for a few minutes, whether it’s joking around with them or telling them crazy childhood stories or I guess, now, playing music.”
Watch the full video below.
As for why so many have been drawn to her duet with Pennington, Collazo assumes it’s because there’s “so much negativity in the world.”
“You watch the news and you go on the internet and all you see is just all these bad things happening, whether it’s shootings or accidents, people dying,” she said. “We as humans like to hold onto the little bits of positivity and those moments that show true human compassion to let people know that there’s still goodness in the world, you know, and that we’re not all doomed.”
She continued, “I think if it helps touch somebody’s heart and makes them feel warm, I’m all about it,” Pennington said of his viral moment. “I think it’s wonderful, if they can share it and maybe spread the love, maybe the world would be a little better place.”
