This is the story of a construction worker at a children’s hospital in IN who entertains sick children by hiding a life-sized Waldo, a character from the popular children’s book “Where’s Waldo?”.
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Jason Haney has been busy helping build a new wing on the children’s hospital, and while doing so has turned the $50 million expansion project into a larger than life game of “Where’s Waldo?”.
“I’ve been watching the kids run over to the window and look out for Waldo”, Heidi Prescott, the hospital’s media relations specialist of Beacon Health System, told ABC News.
“My daughter, she had a stroke when my wife was carrying her in utero”, Haney explained.
‘When she was about 3, we noticed something wasn’t quite right.
That’s when a CAT scan was performed and brain damage was found. The prognosis was grim, and the family was told not to expect Taylor to advance intellectually past a third-grade level.
Since the spring, Haney has hidden Waldo in various locations on the construction site within view of the hospital’s southern windows.
When construction on the new wing is finished in March 2017 and there is nowhere left to hide Waldo, Haney and some of his fellow workers are going to sign it for the kids to keep with them inside. When everyone’s found Waldo, Haney starts to scope out his next hiding spot – whether it’s on scaffolding, near the elevators or even on a crane.
Haney said he knows what it’s like to have a child in the hospital. When the kids spot it, the hospital lets him know, and he moves it for the next search.
“One of his co-workers made the comment “wouldn’t it be cool if we did something like Where’s Waldo”?” After they find him, Haney is notified.
Mr Haney went on to create an eight-foot tall plywood rendition of the character, complete with icon cane, red-and-white striped shirt and bobble hat.
Prescott told People that Haney has brought lots of smiles to the kids in the hospital. He’s now working on crafting a few Minion characters who will start appearing around the building in the coming weeks, as well.
Physicians initially thought Taylor would not be able to learn past the third grade, but after graduating from high school a year ago, she plans to attend Muncie, Ind.-based Ball State University to study biology and zoology, according to the report.
‘They’re easier to carry, ‘ he told ABC News.
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He’s pleased when he finds that Waldo has helped take a child or parent’s mind off whatever problems they are facing.
