Example: [Collected on the Internet, 1999]
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Like any good mother, when Karen found out that another baby was on the way, she did what she could do to help her 3-year-old son, Michael, prepare for a new sibling. They found out that the new baby was going to be a girl, and day after day, night after night, Michael would sing to his sister in Mommy's tummy.
The pregnancy progressed normally for Karen. Then the labor pains came. Every five But complications arose during delivery. Hours of labor. A The days inched by. The little girl got worse. The pediatric specialist tells the parents, "There is little hope. Be prepared for the worst." Karen and her husband contacted a local cemetery about a burial plot. The had fixed up a special room in their home for the new baby Week two in intensive care. It looked as if a funeral would come before the week was over. Michael keeps nagging about singing to his sister, but kids are never allowed in Intensive Care. Karen made up her mind. She would take Michael whether they liked it or not. If he didn't see his sister now, he would never see her alive. She dressed him in an oversized scrub suit and marched him into ICU. He looked like a walking laundry basket, but the head nurse recognized him as a child and bellowed, "Get that kid out of here now! No children are allowed in ICU." The mother rises up strong in Karen, and the usually mild-mannered lady glares steel-eyed into the head nurse's face, her lips a firm line. "He is not leaving until he sings to his sister!" Karen tows Michael to his sister's bedside. He gazes at the tiny infant losing the battle to live. And he begins to sing. In the pure-hearted voice of a 3-year-old, Michael "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are Instantly the baby girl responded. The pulse rate became calm and steady. "You never know, dear, how much I love you, Please don't take my sunshine The ragged strained breathing became as smooth as a kitten's purr. "The other night, dear, as I lay sleeping, I dreamed I held you in my Michael's little sister relaxes as rest, healing rest, seemed to sweep over her. Tears conquered the face of the bossy head nurse. Karen glowed. "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. Please don't take my sunshine away." Funeral plans were scrapped. The next day, the very next day, the little girl was well enough to go home! Woman's Day magazine called it "the miracle of a brother's song." The medical staff just called it a miracle. |
Variations: Some versions mention that the mother is "an active member of the Panther Creek United Methodist Church in Morristown, Tennessee" or that the ailing baby is later baptized there; others leave out those details. (There is no Panther Creek United Methodist Church in that area
Origins: This tear-jerking tale began wet hankying its way around the Internet in May 1998. Though it's a touching story about the power of love, those in the know at
- No one has yet turned up the purported Woman's Day article labeling this event "The miracle of a brother's song." In fact,
St. Mary's reports that Woman's Day is one of the many media outlets that have contacted them seeking details of the story, which would be rather unusual if Woman's Day had already run an article about it. - Children are not barred from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at
St. Mary's in Knoxville, Tennessee, as claimed in the text, and it would be highly out of character for a nurse inSt. Mary's Women's Pavilion— whether in the NICU or not— to be so brusque as to bellow "Get that kid out of here now!" at the mother of a patient. An out-of-control screaming little monster might be ejected from the NICU, but there's no reason to believe a normally-behaved child would be prevented from visiting an ailing sibling. - According to St. Mary's, there is a small grain of truth to the story. The baby in question was indeed born ill (in 1992), but although her illness was serious, it was not life-threatening, and both mother and baby left the hospital with a clean bill of health after eight days. The medical record reflects no sudden downturn or upswing (miraculous or otherwise) in the infant's condition, or any reason why a pediatric specialist would have told the parents "There is little hope."
- Although the baby girl does have an older brother, no one outside the family can verify the details about his having sung to his sister, and certainly nobody at
St. Mary's knows which members of the "medical staff just called it a miracle."
a little boy have sung a favorite song to his ailing little sister who subsequently recovered from an
unspecified illness? It's possible, of course, but at this point nothing exists to substantiate the event other than an overly-dramatic much-circulated account no one can verify which includes details that are apparently false. Could a real event have inspired the current story, and the smuggling in of the brother been inserted by the writer to heighten the drama of the tale? Also possible, but if that is the case, one has to wonder how much of the story is dramatic flourish added by the chronicler and how much is fact. We do know the child wasn't languishing at death's door and her medical records indicate no radical changes in her condition while she was in care.
Barbara "sunshine on my overloaded shoulders" Mikkelson
Last updated: 10 March 2007
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