Isabella Lorusso, the daughter of one of our nurses at St George’s, visited our children’s playroom on Saturday 8 December to spread some festive cheer with our paediatric patients.

Isabella, who is 10 years old and was born at St George’s, played Born This Way by Lady Gaga on the keyboard while singing along before playing Christmas carols on the clarinet. Some of the children joined in by playing percussion instruments from the playroom too.

You can watch Isabella singing Born This Way here and Silent Night here.

Isabella also wrote to and met with the managers of her local Sainsbury’s, Costco and Pret A Manger to explain that she would be visiting the children’s wards at St George’s and asked if they would be able to help her by donating some small gifts she could hand out.

The companies were so touched by Isabella’s heartfelt desire to spread festive cheer that they gave her a selection of sweets for the children and mince pies for their parents and staff.

Isabella’s younger brother, Alessandro, also joined in by donating some of his toys to the playroom.

This isn’t Isabella’s first act of kindness though – when she turned nine years old in April 2017, she decided to donate all her birthday presents to the children staying in our paediatric wards at St George’s instead of having a party.

Isabella’s mum, Edi Lorusso, is a Thrombosis Clinical Nurse Specialist at St George’s. She said: “Isabella is such a thoughtful girl, she’s always wanting to help other people and do what she can to make others happy. Alessandro is the same, so he collected some of his toys together to donate to the children at St George’s too.”

About her music, Isabella said: “I love music, so being able to perform in the children’s playroom was really nice – I’d love to play in the elderly wards next! I taught myself to play Born This Way in a day by watching YouTube tutorials so I loved performing that song, as well as the Christmas carols!”

Edi added: “The message that the song gives about being who you are is really powerful, particularly now when social media can play a big role in young people’s lives in a negative way – I’m so proud of her spreading a positive message through her music.”

Thank you so much Isabella and Alessandro for your kind gestures and for providing some fantastic entertainment to the children in the playroom.

Notes to editors

For more information, please contact Pippa Harper, Media Manager, via 020 8266 6128 or philippa.harper@stgeorges.nhs.uk