A single magic moment is hard for me to write about. I have seen so many magic moments it is hard to pick one. But there is a special magical moment I can always look forward to and that is what I want to share.

I was born with a rare disease and I got a new liver before I was two years old. That was a very magical moment, but I don’t remember it that well. I still have my disease and I am still sick a lot. When I get sick I have itching all the time. I itch every night, from evening to morning and I can’t sleep. So I moan and groan and curl up in a ball. I cannot eat food or my tummy will hurt, and I sleep all the time. I miss a lot of school and I miss out on fun with my friends. I don’t want to be sick but I got to because of my body. When that happens, I just pray tomorrow will be better, but that doesn’t always happen and sometimes I go to the hospital.

The hospital is so boring. I can try turning on the TV but nothing good is on. Most shows during the day are for parents. I can try calling a friend, but they are all at school or out playing. There is a toy room on each floor, but it is run by volunteers so it is not open all the time. If I feel good I can try to get a big wheel or wagon to ride on, but sometimes they are all checked out. There are times I have nothing to do except look out the window. Getting well in the hospital is not very interesting.

There is something I that is fun, fun, fun! It is called Radio Lollipop. Radio Lollipop is a real radio station in the hospital. The station is on the top floor of the hospital and music comes through the TV to all the rooms. It is on Tuesday to Friday at 6:00 to 8:00pm. Some days it seems like I spend hours and hours waiting for the first sound of Radio Lollipop to come through the TV. I ask my parents every few minutes if it is 6pm yet, and if we have the TV on the right channel.

All over the hospital floor kids are either waiting in their rooms with the TV on for Radio Lollipop or if they are really lucky they have the nurse’s ok to leave the floor and go to Radio Lollipop.  Then all of a sudden you hear, “Hello folks it’s 6:00pm!” Then you hear music and jokes stream through the TV. All over the floor you hear kids turning up the volume, listening, singing, dancing and even some bouncing in the bed! It mostly like a party in the hospital. There are radio contests too with super cool prizes.  You can also call in and tell jokes. My mom and I look up jokes on the internet and in joke books so I can call in and tell them on the air. They call me, “Anna Banana” and let me tell my jokes live through the whole hospital TV system! Then the volunteers come around to each room with a Radio Lollipop craft. Every room gets to do a craft, and we tape them to our doors to be judged for prizes.

If I am really lucky I get to go to the 16th floor where the radio station is. That is the coolest place! There are video games, a pool table, and racing arcade games. They have the craft table set up there too. But the radio station is where I hang out. They have a big glass DJ area and we all sit on tall chairs, put on big headphones, and talk into fuzzy microphones. Sometimes the DJ forgets to turn the microphone off and we talk over the music by accident. It is ok when we do this, it is just funny because the whole hospital hears you. Sometimes we leave the microphone on and sing with the music.

If the DJ asks a contest question and we know the answer, we can’t call from in the inside the radio studio because there isn’t a phone. So we run outside the glass booth to use a parents phone and call very quickly. I say we, because I always meet or make a friend at Radio Lollipop.

I love Radio Lollipop. I think it is magical because it is magic for everyone in the hospital. It makes sick kids forget that they are in the hospital and that is a magical moment!

Written by Anna, patient at Texas Children’s Hospital