NEW YORK — Dane Pratt read a book to a young patient battling for her life.
And now, his message of kindness is going national.
Appearing Thursday on the third hour of “Good Morning America” with hosts Michael Strahan and Iowa native Sara Haines, Pratt talked about encouraging Parker Baker with the simple gesture of reading a book at her bedside.
“I wanted Parker to know that she wasn’t alone,” Pratt said. “I wanted the Baker family to know that I was gonna to be there and I was gonna to see it through.”
As a cardiovascular perfusionist with MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center, Pratt administered the ECMO machine that helped give Parker’s lungs a chance to rest.
“Parker is doing fantastic,” Pratt said. “She is out of the ICU, she’s off ECMO and she’s just pulling ahead with Parker’s pace.”
Pratt doesn’t want the generosity to end, in fact, so he’s challenging those who want to give back to donate children’s books to their local pediatric hospitals and post a picture of the book using #BooksForParker.
The “GMA” crew and viewers of “GMA3: Strahan, Sara & Keke” jumped into action.
“He gave us the hope that she was gonna make it, and gonna to keep fighting and she could hear us cheering her on,” Cassie Baker, Parker’s mother, said in a recorded message during the broadcast.
Disney Publishing Worldwide also donated books to MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center through their Magic of Storytelling campaign.
“We’re not donating just books here, we’re donating hope,” Pratt said. “Some of these kids, they’re in the fight of their life, and they need that hope.”
New children’s books can be donated to MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center at 1111 6th Ave, Des Moines, IA 50314.