For children facing cancer and other serious medical conditions, a hospital stay can be especially difficult. But at hospitals across Northern California, one familiar superhero is helping bring some joy to kids who need it most.
Not Batman. Not Superman. Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
During a recent visit at Kaiser Permanente Roseville, Mena knocked on patients' doors and greeted them with the same question: "How's it going? Can I come in?"
Mena asked Green to identify which Spider-Man suit he was wearing, narrowing it down by asking which movies he had seen.
For Mena, the superhero visits grew out of a desire to do something meaningful for others.
"I used to draw him when I was a kid, and I didn't know why," Mena said. "I liked all his positions and poses, and it's been a dream come true to be him in the eyes of so many kids."
Mena estimates he has met more than 15,000 children. His Spider-Man visits have expanded beyond California to nearly every state and even overseas to England.
"I have become part of a team here with child life specialists," Mena said. "There are all kinds of support. I think what I do is more medicine for the soul, so they know they're not alone, not on an island."
"It is not fun to be in the hospital, so we try to do lots of things to make it easier," said Dr. Zoey Goore. "Laughter and ways to improve spirits help improve the healing process. A visit from Spider-Man makes a huge difference."
"I feel like I didn't get into superheroes until recently," he said.
Green hopes to become a chef one day, and Mena encouraged him to keep pursuing that dream.
Some patients have told him his visit was the best day of their life.
While childhood cancer survival rates have improved significantly over the years, cancer remains one of the leading causes of death among children in the United States. More than 40 children in the U.S. are diagnosed with cancer each day, according to the American Cancer Society.
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