Holy High Wire

Four of the strongest people on the planet came to pass some of their strength on to the patients.

Superheroes visit Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital: Young patients had some special visitors Monday at the Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital. A crowd of people formed outside the hospital, looking to the sky, pointing at something. It was not a bird, a plane or even Life Lion, but superheroes Captain America, Batman, Spiderman and Superman.

Four of the strongest people on the planet came to pass some of their strength on to the patients. "Once we went over they started clapping for us, the kids started waving. We waved back, it was great," said Mark Barnaba, who dressed up as Superman. "I'm kind of into the comic thing. I think I like Thor the best, but I like these ones, too," said Paige Chubb, a 14-year-old from Carlisle who has been undergoing cancer treatments all year.

The superheroes used some of their muscle to propel down the sides of the hospital. The men behind the masks were window washers from North Eastern Building Maintenance; ordinary men with a super goal of helping brave little patients forget they are in a hospital.

"I just knew it would be perfect because just seeing the children smile, it just makes it all worth it," Barnaba said. "It makes me happy to see that people are so kind and are able to do this. I love it. It's just really cool," Chubb said. The idea began with a hospital employee. North Eastern Building Maintenance jumped on board and even paid for the superhero costumes.

Window washers dress in costumes at Pennsylvania children's hospital (HERSHEY, PA) - Some popular super heroes traded in their special powers for window washing equipment and converged on Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital. Their mission, brighten the day of some of the youngest patients. One of those is C.J. Hoover who has been through so much in his first 17 months. The young boy fought a fierce battle with leukemia in March, and knocked the cancer into remission. But he's still back in the hospital almost every week for chemo and check-ups. "We're not in this alone and it's good to know there are people around us that support us and provide care and even a small thing like a smile," said Clayton Hoover, C.J.'s dad.

On Monday, C.J. and other young patients were surprised to see super heroes scaling the size of the hospital. A lot of the children were probably too young to fully appreciate the gesture, but their parents took it to heart. For a minute, the super heroes helped wipe their worries away. "We're in a comfortable place, we'll get through this and C.J. will come out just fine," Hoover said. In true superhero fashion, after saving the day, they quietly slipped away, off to their next mission. But they hoped to leave the young patients empowered to fight their health battles with the same kind of courage that comes with a cape.

Spiderman gives the high sign as he starts his descent down the walls of Texas Children's Hospital.

Holy highwire! Superheroes scale the walls of Texas Children's Hospital and clean up -  igh-flying superheroes Batman, Spiderman, Captain America and Superman thrilled patients at Texas Children's Hospital when they descended the slippery slopes of the 21-story building in the heart of the Texas Medical Center.


More than mere super Samaritans, these guys with muscles rippling and capes flying were super window washers with their buckets and squeegees in hand. As the costumed characters bounced from window to window, one young fellow exclaimed, "That's dangerous!" From his hospital bed, another youngster enthused, "Those superheroes were so awesome." In celebration of the visit, the youngsters worked on arts and crafts projects focusing on the superheroes. This was one surprise that patients and parents as well as hospital staff won't soon forget.

Superhero/super window washers prepare at Texas Children's Hospital.