Extraordinary Ordinary: Pet therapy escort

ST. PETERSBURG (FOX 13) - Volunteer week at John's Hopkins All Children's Hospital is a chance to showcase some of the wonderful people that spend hours with sick kids.

One of those people is Liane Jamason who loves dogs and wanted to get involved.

"I have two of my own that will probably never be therapy dogs," Jamason jokes, "I have to come here to play with ones that are better trained!" 

Jamason wants to help take the patients' minds off of whatever they might be going through. Her motivation is knowing what it's like first-hand to be in a hospital bed facing a serious disease.

At the age of 23, she had stage 3 Hodgkin's Lymphoma. She spent three months in chemotherapy treatments, and a month and a half of radiation.

Now she is a pet therapy escort going room to room and introducing the patients to the therapy dog and it's handler.

"It gets the kids out of bed and playing on the floor when they wouldn't otherwise get out of bed. It really is pet therapy, "Jamason said. "When you walk into a child's room and you see that they're really down and here comes this big fluffy golden retriever and their face just lights up! I come in on Mondays and I'm stressed out and then I forget about all my problems. At the end of the day, when you see what  these families are going through, it really does feel like you spent a little two hours making a difference".

Volunteer week is also a way to highlight the different ways to get involved which you can find more information on the link below.

https://www.hopkinsallchildrens.org/foundation/get-involved/volunteer-in-the-hospital