Corona expands to laugh at children with middle and severe illness Clowns struggle April 23 22:39

With the spread of the new coronavirus, the clowns called "Hospital Crown" are laughing live to encourage children with severe illness who are restricted from going out.

Kosuke Odate (50), who has been working as a "hospital crown" for 16 years, visits nearly 100 hospitals nationwide every month with his 150 colleagues and delivers laughter to children with intractable diseases and serious disabilities. I came.

However, due to the spread of the new coronavirus, the situation has been unavoidable since the end of February.

Mr. Odate said, `` Not only are children restricted from going out and meeting people more than usual, but they are sensitive to family anxiety and nervousness in the hospital, and are able to accumulate stress without realizing it. That's why I want to cheer up my performance, but I'm really disappointed that I can't visit. "

So, in order to make the children smile, Odai-san started streaming videos of clowns' performances every day from last month on an Internet video posting site. And this time, we also tried "Audience Live" using a video conferencing app.

Through the computer screen, we were able to connect with children who were fighting illness through a computer screen, and for 40 minutes, we performed a performance while calling for each person's name and asking for clapping.

On the computer, the children's reactions that seemed to be fun were projected, and Mr. Odate said, “I was able to do what I could do because I was inconvenient, I could have fun, and I was able to feel the possibilities. , I want to shake hands and hug, but I can't do that. Now, when I meet and meet next time, I want to play a lot together. "

Interchange between clown and intractable disease girl

Mr. Kosuke Odate of "Hospital Crown" has been interacting for many years with Mr. Omoi Kijima (13), a second year junior high school student living in Yokohama. I have a congenital incurable disease called "Smith-Maginis Syndrome".

Omo continued to be treated in a hospital without awareness for about a year after he was born. Mr. Odate came to Omo as a hospital crown.

Mr. Odate says he made a balloon art bear by the side of Omoi's unconscious bed, and made his mother, Satoe, who was accompanying him laugh at the performance.

After regaining consciousness, Mr. Odate frequently visited Mr. Omoe and recalled, "I remember being saved when my daughter's illness was so severe that I was crying every day." It was

After that, he started attending special needs schools and was looking forward to school every day, but due to the new coronavirus, he could not attend school from the beginning of last month. If you are infected, you may get serious, so you spend most of your day at home.

When Omo feels stressed, he may scratch his body and hurt him, and Satoe sometimes takes Omo to the drive and shows the scenery from the inside of the car to relieve stress as much as possible. It means that

However, recently, more and more people are hurting themselves compared to what they used to be. I'm running low. "

Mr. Satoe has kept a record of his growth on his blog along with his illustrations that he drew for more than 10 years, but recently, it is said that he is drawing more and more of his stressful state.

Wanting Omo to be cheered up even a little, Satoe showed the live stream of "No Audience Live" that Mr. Odate challenged for the first time last week.

Omo-san was enjoying the live in a relaxed state, so his mother, Rie, said, "My daughter should think of Obune as a weird uncle with a red nose, who always wears makeup. However, I think I love you all the time. It's the first time I've seen him across the screen, and I was surprised, but it looked like it was really fun. I was talking.