Last month, Réyvin Lowman, 14, sat in bed making hand-print turkeys for Thanksgiving. Just a few days earlier she had been admitted to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston. Réyvin, who suffers from a congenital heart disease, is a familiar face at the pediatric hospital, having been in and out of the cardiac unit since birth.
But on this visit, something is different. Réyvin is watching closed-circuit television where former CHOA heart patient Joseph Fuller, 12, is urging viewers to call in and request songs or guess a letter in the game of hangman.
Réyvin clutches the telephone to request “No Scrubs” by TLC. Then she guesses the letter “A.” Moments later, when an “A” appears on the board, Réyvin screams loud enough to bring a nurse to the door. “I guessed a letter!” she yelled, as she waved to Fuller’s image on screen. “Let me calm down. I have to watch my heart rate.”
It is the one-year anniversary of “The Voice,” a broadcast media center located in the hospital lobby, a gift from media personality and former Dunwoody dweller, Ryan Seacrest. Through his Ryan Seacrest Foundation, the celebrity host plans to install the broadcast centers in pediatric hospitals nationwide. Another studio opened at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in July, and two others are planned at children’s hospitals in Boston and Orange County.
The fully equipped radio and television studio allows patients to practice their on-air skills as DJs and hosts. Patients confined to their beds can call in to talk, play games or request music from all three locations in the CHOA system while watching and hearing the broadcasts from their rooms. Local high school and college students volunteer at the centers in return for broadcast training and, every now and then, celebrities passing through town make appearances, just as they would at any other radio station.
“There are a lot of distractions for the younger kids, but for teens, until ‘The Voice,’ there hasn’t been much and they probably need it the most,” said Wendy Threatt, the program coordinator known as “Wacky Wendy” to listeners. Three days a week, Threatt can be found in the studio, often with young co-hosts, playing games specifically developed to be both entertaining and visual, as well as playing music and sometimes conducting patient interviews. When celebrities visit — such as singer/songwriter Colbie Caillat or actor Nathan Kress, who plays Freddie on the Nickelodeon show “iCarly” — CHOA patients are particularly excited to lend a hand in interviewing.
Not long ago, Seacrest announced that he wanted to start a foundation, said his mother, Connie Seacrest. “We talked about it and he said, ‘I want something that will make a difference to children,’” she said. The foundation became a family affair as they did the research, got everything up and running and met with CHOA officials to see if they were interested in participating.
Ryan thought it would be appropriate to install the first center in his hometown, Connie Seacrest said. Soon after the opening, mothers of children at CHOA would seek out Seacrest and ask her to tell her son what a difference the studio has made for their children.
“I don’t know what the magic is for them, but we are just so tickled that we can do this and make a difference for a sick child,” said Seacrest, who knows how important it is to foster a child’s interests. “When Ryan stated at 8 years old that he wanted to be Casey Kasem, I said, ‘Sure!’ I guess some kids are just comfortable with that kind of thing,” Seacrest said.
When Joseph Fuller was an inpatient at the hospital, he was such a constant presence at “The Voice” that he earned his own radio handle. “He was ‘Joking Joe,’” Threatt said. “He had to come with his favorite joke.”
Though Joe’s energy was often zapped during his last hospital stay — a genetic heart condition led to a heart transplant in October — “The Voice” was the one thing he looked forward to each day, said his mother, Margo Fuller. “It made the stays better and gave him something to look forward to,” she said. Joe became such a fixture that his nurses would take his vitals and administer medications right in the studio. Their room checks became monitor checks since they could see Joe and Threatt playing games and telling jokes from any television monitor in the hospital.
One of Joe’s favorite games is something they call, “Guess What?” One person holds a card up to his or her head while the other person gives clues to help guess who or what is written on the card.
“Stupid and Sparkly!” said Joe, when Threatt held up a card reading “Edward the Vampire.”
They also play games known as “Fact or Crap,” in which contestants have to guess if the facts Threatt is quoting are real or fictitious. Joe likes this game, too. But when the game of hangman starts, Joe begs his fellow CHOA patients for help. “Please call,” he said. “I don’t want to kill this guy.”
Réyvin was first to heed the call, correctly guessing the movie with only three letters on the board. She makes one more song request for Michael Jackson before signing off. But within the hour, Réyvin decides to make an in-person appearance on “The Voice.”
Like many of the young people who visit the studio in person, Réyvin is excited to speak on the microphone, even though she has no plans to follow in Seacrest’s professional footsteps.
“Hello, everyone, how are you?” asks Réyvin in a singsong voice as she leans forward in her wheelchair to speak into the microphone.
“You are a freshman?” Threatt asks.
“Yes, ma’am, I’m fresh meat,” Réyvin replies.
“What is your favorite course in high school?” Threatt says.
“Math and biology,” Réyvin said. “When I grow up, I want to be a surgeon ... an open heart surgeon to help kids like me.”
