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‘Absolutely Beautiful!’ A Nashville Musician Performs ‘O Holy Night’ With His Oncology Nurse From a Hospital Bed

Photo by freestocks.org from Pexels
Photo by freestocks.org from Pexels
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By Will Maule
Author

December 19, 2019

A wonderful video of a festive moment between an oncology nurse and her patient has gone viral.

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The footage features Alex Collazo, a nurse at the Sarah Cannon Cancer Institute, singing with long-time Nashville musician Penn Pennington. Their chosen duet? The 1847 Christmas classic, “O Holy Night.”

Pennington, 67, is back on the Oncology ward after his cancer, beaten into remission a decade ago, returned with a vengeance.

“I’ve been told that it’s more life-threatening, it’s more aggressive, fast-growing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma,” the musician told TODAY. “The particular plan for treating this strain of lymphoma has been an inpatient in the hospital, five days worth of chemo. Because it’s so aggressive, we’re having to hit it really hard.”

Alex, RN at Sarah Cannon hospital and Nashville Country Musician Penn Pennington

My dad’s nurse, Alex, heard that he was a guitar player so she brought her guitar for him to play during his chemotherapy treatments and sang O Holy Night with him. Who knew she could also sing!! Please share and let's get Alex some buzz for nurse of the year!! She's amazing! #alexatsarahcannonThere's more to the story, Penn Pennington is a Nashville original guitar player since 1980. He has played at all the old country bars downtown for over 30 years and played at the Grand Ole Opry with Jack Greene for 23 years. Right now he is receiving chemotherapy at Sarah Cannon Cancer Center. Sarah Cannon, best known as Minnie Pearl of the Grand Ole Opry was an American country comedian who appeared for more than 50 years and on the television show Hee Haw from 1969 to 1991.

Posted by Brandi Mykle Leath on Sunday, December 15, 2019

Though the treatment is grueling, there is one member of staff who always manages to put a smile on Pennington’s face — nurse Collazo.

“When she came into the room, she was just so bubbly and so positive about trying to make sure that I felt comfortable, that I felt reassured that they were going to be on top of this and that they were going to be here for me,” the guitarist explained.

Soon, the pair realized they shared another passion — music.

“We connected with our musical interest and I wanted to do something for him to help him forget that he was in the hospital and just bring him some happiness,” Collazo told the outlet. “So I brought him my guitar and here we are now.”

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The video of the touching performance was recorded by Pennington’s daughter, Brandi, and has since been shared over 6000 times.

Many commented on the video with well-wishes and words of appreciation for the compassionate nurse.

“Absolutely beautiful! Thx for brightening everyone’s day and being the caring nurse that you are!” one person wrote.

“Beautiful harmony! God bless both of them!” another added.

We wish Penn the best in his treatment and recovery!

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