EDMONTON – Fifteen minutes was all it took to turn Crystal Montgomery’s pain into joy on Monday.
Just four months ago, the 18-year-old was diagnosed with osteosarcoma – a malignant bone tumour – in her left shoulder. She lost all of her hair after the first chemotherapy treatment. By October, she had dropped 30 pounds. And soon she will undergo an amputation surgery to remove her left arm from the shoulder down.
Her best friend Joana Antunes thought a visit from Canadian pop superstar star Justin Bieber would be the best medicine. On Monday afternoon, Bieber walked through a door at Edmonton’s Cross Cancer Institute and into Montgomery’s room.
“She cried happy tears and was in shock to see him,” said Antunes. “Crystal’s going through a very hard time with her chemotherapy and everything she has to face with her cancer. We just want to remind her that she’s beautiful and that she has the courage to fight this and go all the way and be completely OK.”
Montgomery spent about 15 minutes chatting with the famous singer, who showed up at her hospital room thanks to a Twitter campaign.
Antunes, along with friend Brittany Imperadeiro, both 18, took to Twitter Saturday night in hopes of contacting the famous singer on behalf of their ailing friend.
They started the hashtag #bieberforcrystal after receiving no response to their original requests from Bieber’s representatives. Antunes saw the hashtag begin trending across Canada Sunday night and it continued to trend well into Monday – which gave her hope.
Still, she had no idea that Bieber had seen their message or that he would take the time to visit, other than a few hints he dropped on Twitter. Early Monday afternoon, the Baby singer tweeted “my fans are amazing. they made me aware of something. im gonna make good on it. #giveback” and “now off to do something that matters. #giveback”.
He then showed up at the Cross in his black tour bus right before heading to Rexall Place for his sold-out show.
“Justin Bieber made a point of coming into the hospital quietly and respectfully without disrupting other staff and patients, and he sure brought a lot of joy into the room,” said Paula Germann, operations lead at AHS-Cancer Care’s Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton.
After the visit, Bieber tweeted a photo of the two with the hashtag #bieberforcrystal. A couple of hours later he tweeted about the visit again saying, “Thanks to the fans for always pointing me on the right path. #giveback.”
Antunes said it all felt like a dream. And to top it off, a friend donated her concert tickets to Montgomery and Antunes, and doctors decided Montgomery was well enough to attend the show.
The Archbishop O’Leary High School graduate had hoped to attend NAIT this fall but has had to put off further education for now, to concentrate on her recovery.
For her part, Imperadeiro believes they have a lot of Edmontonians to thank for their help in retweeting the hashtag and bringing Montgomery’s story to Bieber’s attention.
“Edmonton definitely pulled together to help. We couldn’t have done it without everyone.”
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