A very special prom

This is a freelance piece I wrote for the Associated Press about a special prom staged by Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. I love this kind of reporting, slipping into someone’s else world and simply serving as an observer to a moment they will never forget.

Prom in the Hospital: For One Night, Just Kids

Prom in the hospital means a chance for a normal night for kids who ‘get treated as different’

On the eighth floor of Texas Children’s Hospital, behind double doors leading to the renal dialysis unit, Jasmine Davis floated through the hallway in a frothy cocktail dress of black lace and teal satin. A rhinestone tiara glittered against her soft halo of dark curls.

A few feet away, Carlos Mata shifted nervously from one foot to another, clasping a bow tie and glancing shyly at the cluster of pretty girls.

On most days, Jasmine and Carlos arrive on this floor of the Houston hospital prepared to spend several hours tethered to a dialysis machine, a process that keeps them alive but can also keep them from experiencing regular childhood rituals.

This night would be different. On this Sunday in late April, they would brush aside the necessary routine of doctors’ visits, needle pricks and dialysis machines and, for a few magical hours, get the chance to be normal, silly, giggling, dancing kids.

Jasmine, Carlos and about two dozen other young patients from the hospital’s renal services unit were going to the prom. The event organized by a small army of hospital employees, volunteers and community supporters would be a first for the hospital, and for nearly all the patients, many of whom have missed out on school dances, classmates’ parties and other commonplace social rites because of illness.

For weeks, the teenagers had imagined a night of glitter and magic. But now, just an hour before the prom, the young people primping in hospital corridors and treatment rooms were getting nervous.

“I’m ready, I guess . I don’t know,” admitted Carlos, a 15-year-old middle school student who is awaiting a kidney transplant. He glanced down at the brand-new bow tie tangled between his fingers. “This is the first time I’m doing this.”

To read the entire article, click here.