Friendly Clown 'Lotsy Dotsy' A "Rock" For Young Patients
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HOLLYWOOD (CBSMiami) — Much of Joshua Freckelton's eight years have been spent at Joe Dimaggio Children's Hospital, and one of the constants for him, has been Lotsy Dotsy the clown, who has known him since he was born. On this day, she plays "Happy Birthday" to her young friend on the harmonica.
"I wanted to come and say that I love you," said Lotsy Dotsy, wrapping her arms around him. "I met you eight years ago, and I am just so happy that I've had you in my clown life. Happy birthday. I love you, Josh."
"I love you too," replied Freckelton, resting his head on her shoulder.
"It pleases my heart because he's such a sweet kid, and it lightens him and lets him think about less of what he has to go through because he comes here every week," said Freckelton's mother, Stephanie Stewart.
Lotsy Dotsy said goodbye to Freckelton and made her way through the halls of the hospital, as she has done every day for nearly three decades.
"Hello everybody," she called out.
"Seeing your kid happy-- that's it," said Jessica Ginart, whose toddler daughter laughed and chased bubbles from the end of Lotsy Dotsy's wand.
"If you walked into that room every day and saw that every day, you would feel good every day, because no matter how bad you feel, they fill you up and make you realize that it's not that big of a deal to have a sore hip or a headache, or whatever," said Lotsy Dotsy. "It's amazing."
Dr. Robert Reid has known the friendly clown for the past two decades.
"Oh my God, you see her walking. You feel like you got a coffee shot," said Reid. "She comes, she rides her little bicycle, she blows bubbles. Every day she does something new."
Lotsy Dotsy's journey was an unexpected one. Scared of clowns as a child, she decided to take a clown course at a community college in the 1980s. At the time, she was enjoying a career as a respiratory therapist. At nights and on the weekends, she would return to the hospital in her clown outfit as a volunteer, to make sick children smile.
She has made countless friends over the years, many of them no longer here. One little girl, in particular, begged her to keep spreading the joy.
"I knew before she died, that she was the reason that I have this job," said Lotsy Dotsy, with tears in her eyes. "That was very emotional for me. She wanted it so much… She said if she was the boss of the hospital, she'd have hotdogs and ketchup, and see Lotsy Dotsy every day."
Another friend, a nurse who volunteered as a clown with her, pleaded with Lotsy Dotsy to keep their tradition alive, just before she lost her battle with cancer.
"She said, 'You have to remember that you make me forget how sick I am, just for a little while; promise me you'll never stop doing this,'" said Lotsy.
Three decades later, the clown has stayed true to her word.
At the bedside of a cancer patient, she pulled a rainbow colored tutu from her bag and put it on her young friend, who wore a hat reading "Cancer fears me."
"I brought you this one, it will go with your clothes that you have on today," said Lotsy Dotsy. "It matches your pajamas."
"She's our rock—not just my rock, my daughter's rock," said the patient's mother, while her daughter sang and danced hand-in-hand with her clown friend. "When we come to the hospital, we don't look at it like a hospital. We look at it as a place that is so much joy, so much happiness, and that's what has been helping my daughter to feel better and look at her situation in a different way."
In a place you might not expect it, dancing is something Lotsy Dotsy, and everyone around her, do a lot of. From the young patients to the doctors, to the security guards, the sound of a harmonica and singing fills the hallways whenever she is near. As she celebrates her 30th anniversary at the hospital, this clown is still young at heart, still full of energy; still a light for young survivors who find themselves in a dark and challenging chapter.
"One day I will probably stop, but I think when I stop, I will probably just go to clown heaven," said Lotsy Dotsy. "I don't think I can retire— it's not in my vocabulary to say those words."
