Ten Year Old In Hospital Over 200 Days Misses Father Daughter Dance: Hospital Staff To The Rescue

A very sweet story in these trying times. A daddy daughter dance, that almost didn't happen.

A ten-year-old who has been waiting for a heart transplant missed out on her school’s annual father-daughter dance. So the hospital staff decided to take action, and do it at the hospital.

The Cleveland Clinic made a dream come true for ten year old Ava Cooper. She was born in 2014 with several heart defects, and had her first open-heart surgery when she was just six days old.

Later a sinus infection got worse, and put her into heart failure That is when she was put on the transplant list.

Ava has now spent more than 200 days at the Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital in Ohio waiting for a donor heart.

Every February, Ava Cooper would attend her beloved father-daughter dance at school, that she loved. But missed it this year, because she is in the hospital waiting for a donor heart.

Well, the staff at the Cleveland Clinic weren't going to let her miss it, so on February 12, the hospital decorated a room and turned it into a dance hall. Her dad Sean showed up with a corsage, and took his daughter to the ball.

Caregivers, and staff, who are now family, greeted Ava with a round of applause as she entered the valentine-decorated dance hall. She and her dad danced to a playlist of her favorite songs that was put together by one of the music therapists.

Ava's dad said it was an unforgettable experience, and we “can’t thank Ava’s care team, and everyone involved, enough for making this such a special dance.”

“I’m grateful to be a girl dad,” he said. “It means being inspired to always be better.”

According to Ava: “My dad is like having the best friend a girl could ask for.”