Singing nurse is best medicine for child battling cancer at Texas Children's Hospital

HOUSTON -- She's four years old and fighting for her life.

Sophia Torres was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia last May. She's already endured chemotherapy and if things go well, will soon receive a bone marrow transplant.

"These kids go through so much. It just feels so good to put a smile on their face and make them maybe forget, oh. I'm still in the hospital," said Texas Children's Hospital nurse Brandon Waterhouse.

Sophia's father posted a video last weekend of Waterhouse serenading her.

The post has attracted nearly 200,000 views and nearly 3,500 likes at the time of this writing.

"I don't get embarrassed too easily, but I didn't think this was gonna go so big," said Waterhouse.

To him, it's part of the job, helping someone so young take her mind off fight of her life, putting a smile on Sophia's face.

Sophia likes to watch the video over and over. Her parents say she just loves it.

"If I can take away a little bit of that, distract them a little bit from that, it's totally worth it," Waterhouse said.

It's that type of compassion which Sophia's parents say can be nearly as effective a medicine as anything she's yet been prescribed.

"He's so amazing. We can tell right away. He loves his job," said Sophia's mother, Angelica Valbuena.

Sophia's family and friends have created a GofundMe page where you can donate to offset her mounting medical bills. You can find that page here. If you'd like to purchase a T-shirt in support of Sophia, you can log onto https://www.booster.com/sophias-odyssey. Her parents say all proceeds will go toward her medical expenses.

There is also a blood drive coming up in correlation with the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center, in honor of Sophia Torres. That will be held at Terrace Elementary School at 10400 Rothbury St. in Houston on Friday, February 12 from 9:30am-3:30pm. To schedule an appointment you can visit www.giveblood.org.