Keith Urban stunned a superfan fighting for her life on Thursday night by visiting her in hospital.
Marissa English, who was born with an inoperable cyst on her brain and cerebral palsy, among other health issues, had to give up her ticket for the country star’s gig in Toledo, Ohio after falling ill – and so Keith decided to surprise her before hitting the stage.
He learned about a social media campaign set up by nurses at nearby Mercy Health St. Vincent Medical Center, where his 25-year-old fan is a patient, and got in touch to help make her dreams come true.
“She’s got a picture (of Keith Urban) that’s right by her bed,” Marissa’s sister Madison Rowe tells Taste of Country, recalling the moment Urban entered the room. “She started looking at the picture and then she looked back at him and she looked at the picture and was like, ‘Oh my God, Keith is here!'”
Urban sat by English’s bedside for almost an hour and sang her favourite tune, Blue Ain’t Your Color.
“I don’t know if there was a dry eye in the room or the hallway or the hospital,” Rowe adds, explaining Keith’s visit was like a dose of great medicine – for everyone.
“The day before, my husband and I went up to see her and it was probably the hardest time I have ever had being with her,” Rowe explains. “She was in so much pain, she was just shaking. Every vein in her arm you could see because she was so tense. She kept telling everybody she was in pain and she didn’t feel good.
“I’ll be damned if yesterday he didn’t walk in and her whole face lit up. Her heart rate the day before had been skyrocketing… and her heart rate was so calm and easy the whole time he was there. She lit up and talked more than we have seen her talk. She sang with him. He could hear her trying to sing, even though she was on a ventilator. It was night and day from the day before when had seen her.”
Meanwhile, English’s family and friends who did attend Urban’s concert, were upgraded, and he dedicated the show to his ailing fan.
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