Everyday Hero: John Sheehy

Once a week – every week – John Sheehy walks the wards of Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children.

He’s not a doctor or a nurse, but he does have the tools to help kids briefly brush aside thoughts of being ill. “I go in, and I don’t have the needles, so kids love me right away,” he told Global News.

For the past 18 years, Sheehy has volunteered his time to make countless children feel like royalty – using the power of face paint.

It’s Sheehy’s specialty, considering he works during the day as a makeup artist in the fashion world, where he applies traditional makeup, and elaborate face and body painting.

His talents have won him accolades – not just in his industry – but in the hospital as well. With paints and brushes, Sheehy lifts the spirits and imaginations of children with serious illnesses. The effect isn’t just cosmetic, however, as patient Stephanie Clayton points out.

“Like if you’re painted like a princess, you feel like a princess,” the 10-year-old said.

Stephanie was born with a rare condition that caused her stomach organs to develop outside her body. She’s undergone 15 major surgeries and numerous other procedures. As a result, she is living with chronic pain, and has spent most of her life at this hospital.

And over the years, Stephanie was able to develop a friendship with Sheehy. Her mother Denise said the girl eagerly waits for his next visit. “She just was always in such awe when he walked into the room. Not just to have her face painted, but because her friend and her family member had just come in to visit her and that meant more than anything.”

Hospital staff are also impressed at how well Sheehy has been able to foster connections with the young patients. “He just is able to understand – it’s like I don’t even have to tell him what to do or how to do it – he just connects. He knows what to say. He always makes each kid feel special in their own way,” SickKids child life specialist Alexis Shinewald said.

But Sheehy admits it doesn’t always seem that easy, as he sometimes struggles to find the right words. “I always say a little prayer at the bottom of the parking lot when the elevator doors open, that I hope that I’ll have the right thing to say to the right people at the right moment.”

And in return, Sheehy gets a gift you can’t buy. “They give me spirit… They give me perspective.”

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