Apr 9, 2009
Rihanna Spreads Some Cheer To A Sick Child
"She's really here!"

People.com is reporting the very sweet story of Rihanna‘s recent visit to a 6 year old leukemia patient in NYC that I just have to share. On Ri Ri‘s most recent trip to NYC (right before she flew to Barbados for her grandparents 50th wedding anniversary party), she took some time to swing by the NYU Medical Center to visit with Jasmina Anema who is suffering from “a rare and aggressive form of leukemia”. As you can tell by the photos provided, Rihanna‘s visit with Jasmina went a long way in picking up the sick little girl’s spirits:


Six-year-old Jasmina Anema is one of Rihanna’s biggest fans. So when her idol walked into her hospital room at NYU Medical Center on April 2 to visit her, the tiny leukemia patient could hardly believe her eyes. “She’s really here!” Jasmina exclaimed when Rihanna came in, shoeless, to prevent the spread of germs, and hugged her. “You are such a beautiful little girl,” the singer told Jasmina, who has a rare and aggressive form of leukemia. High doses of chemotherapy often leave Jasmina tired, says Katharina Harf, executive vice president of DKMS Americas, the bone marrow donor registry that is helping Jasmina and others find a match. “But when Rihanna walked into the room, there was no sign of that at all,” she says. “Jasmina loves Rihanna. And Rihanna fell in love with Jasmina.” Indeed, the two became fast friends, spending more than three hours talking, playing and indulging in a slumber party-like pillow fight. They even danced to Rihanna’s biggest hits including “Umbrella” and “Please Don’t Stop the Music.” “Jasmina showed Rihanna all her special ‘moves’ and tried to teach her how to do them,” says Harf. Rihanna first learned about Jasmina’s plight in early February, when she saw the moving video Jasmina’s best friend, Isabelle Huurman, and her mother, Karen Detrick, made appealing for donors to save Jasmina. Wanting to help her however she could, Rihanna put a shout out for donors on Feb. 7 on PEOPLE.com to help Jasmina find a match, which drew more than 4,000 donors. And on April 2, Rihanna flew to New York City just to visit her one of her littlest fans. The visit was supposed to last for about an hour. “But Rihanna stayed until 8 o’clock that night,” says Harf. “She would have stayed longer if Jasmina didn’t have to go to sleep.” The visit was a total pinch-me moment for Jasmina, who at one point pointed to the picture of Rihanna on her CD cover, and with big eyes, whispered, “‘Look! It’s her! Really her!!’” says Harf. Jasmina, who is a “total girly girl,” according to her mother, Thea Anema, was thrilled when Rihanna presented her with a big bag of Cover Girl makeup. “Rihanna asked me if it was okay to put makeup on Jasmina,” says Anema. “I said, ‘Of course!’ She’s so thrilled with makeup and anything girly.”


Rihanna painted the little girl’s nails and gently brushed “Dance Party” eyeshadow on her tiny eyelids. They played catch together with Jasmina’s stuffed dog, Jackie, which ended with a torrent of giggles and hugs. “Rihanna kept on saying, ‘I love her personality! She is such a little diva!’ ” says Harf. When Rihanna learned that Jasmina speaks Dutch and also understands Mandarin, the superstar said she was amazed at how “intelligent” and “what an amazing little girl” she is. Jasmina’s mom stood teary-eyed as she watched her daughter laugh and play with Rihanna. “You have no idea how much this means to her,” she told Rihanna. “It was like they had known each other forever. Rihanna is a beautiful girl” … The visit with Jasmina meant a lot to Rihanna, too. “It breaks my heart to see her go through this difficult sickness,” Rihanna tells PEOPLE exclusively. “Jasmina still hasn’t found a match and she is just one of 6,000 people suffering from leukemia or other blood cancers who search the registry every day for a life-saving match. We can take action and sign up to be bone marrow donors. We can save the life of Jasmina and others like her.” For more information, on how to become a donor, please visit OneForJasmina.com or DKMSAmericas.org.

Awww, I love this. It’s really very heartening to see Rihanna — who’s got her own stuff to deal with these days — take the time to share some goodwill to others in need. That Rihanna stayed well past the initial 1-hour allotted time is really spectacular. I’d bet anything that for those 3-hours that Jasmina got to spend with Rihanna her illness was the last thing on her mind. What a really sweet story.

[Source]

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23 Comments. Add Yours

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  1. Anie says:

    That’s truly fantastic- she’s done it in her own time and made a little girl very happy! x

  2. sommerface says:

    That story makes me tear up. It’s nice to see Rihanna giving back and helping out a little girl. :)

  3. Shannon says:

    Wow… thats so touching. Rihanna is an amazing girl. And the little one.. what a fighter.

  4. shannon says:

    this is such an awesome story! i think rhianna is such a sweet person, and you can clearly see how much of a big deal this visit was to this little girl!!

  5. whatever man says:

    That was so awesome of Rihanna to do that for that baby! And staying later than planned proved it wasn’t just some PR move; she really wanted to be there with Jasmina for as long as she could. The look on the little girl’s face in the first picture speaks volumes!! Hopefully this story will encourage people to sign up for the registry — I know it made me look into it, so maybe others will, too. It’s an important cause!

    This story made my whole day and reinforced my intense disgust for Douche Brown.

  6. sweet! says:

    Thanks for sharing this with us Trent. I always thought Rihanna seemed a little ‘icy’ or diva-ish which I now take as just being reserved. It’s nice to see her opening up and being so warm! That type of warmth, in the pictures with the little girl, can not be faked. Hope that Jasmina recovers! I know she is facing a hard journey, as my little 4 year old cousin also suffers from aggressive leukemia. Best wishes to Jasmina.

  7. Mariah says:

    Aww this is so sweet! Now if she and Chris Brown never ever get back together, I’ll love her even more!

  8. I don’t like the fact that covergirl tests on animals..but this story is GREAT!!! It is nice to see Rihanna in a positive situation and doing something good for this little girl. You go girl and keep up the good work!!!

  9. babybunny says:

    Aww. That is so amazing and sweet. I wish the little miss gets the miracle she needs. <3

  10. Panti Christ says:

    HOW CUTE IS THAT!? omg I love it

  11. Krissy says:

    That is so sweet!! And to spend 3 hours! That is a really long time for this kind of visit. I am glad she is helping others during this time, I think it says a lot about her character.

  12. kittkatt says:

    Whatever, is this supposed to make us forget she let some guy beat the shit out of her and then went back to him like all he did was show up late for a date? Disgusting display of PR if you ask me. Come on if she was doing it out of the goodness of her heart it wouldn’t require an interview with People Magazine. I hope that the little girl finds a doner and before anybody wants to criticize me comments yes I am in the registry and have been for the last 5 years. Is Rhianna I wonder?

  13. K says:

    yeah.. i don’t think she “let” ANYone beat her up. but anyways she rocks for visiting this little girl.

  14. Lizzie says:

    There’s PR and then there’s using press to raise awareness, and I think that’s why People magazine got an interview. Cynicism be damned. I think this story is so sweet! Nothing helps you get outside of your own head than helping others, and Rihanna did just that. She’s obviously a very sweet girl who fell in with a very, very bad guy.

    Allegedly.

  15. kittkatt says:

    Ok so she didn’t “let” him beat her she’s just doing her damnest to “let” him get away with it.The last person I want my two daughters to look up to and idolize is a woman who refuses to stand up for herself and just wants everything to be quickly and quietly swept under the rug thank God someone else heard the altercation and called the police Lord knows she wouldn’t have. She would’ve just came to and went home to the bastard. Who knows how many times she had before in the past.

  16. Krissy says:

    kittkatt, I don’t see how you can be so judgemental about what an abused woman does. Abusive men don’t just mess with your body, they mess with your mind as well. Ask Tina Turner! Or Nicole Brown Simpson. Abusive men only start hitting after they feel they have you in a broken mental state that will keep you with them. Not to mention how confused you would be after going through something so tramatic.

    She made her statements to police, so they are there in writting and she doesn’t NEED to testify anymore. She has already contributed her version to the case. There is no proof that she is “back” with him. Perhaps they were in the same location a while back to end things. Irregardless, I think she deserves understanding and patience dealing with such a tramatic event.

  17. Michelina says:

    Ilove ie love it!! I love her!! Best wishes to the little girl my heart just aches for this little girl!!

  18. kittkatt says:

    I’m not trying to be judgemental and if its coming off thaat way then I apologize. ItKs just that I feel very strongly about these kinds of situations and I get disappointed every time I hear about a girl getting abused and doing nothing about it because I’ve been there. I had a man beat me down mentally for years and your right Krissy by the times the physical stuuf started I had no idea what to do. Thank God I had family and friends who basically sat me down and force me to see things the way they really were. Let me tell you the LAST thing I needed at the time was to be coddled and have everything just quietly go away and the BEST thing for my self esteem was to face what had happened and DO something about it. I feel badly for her that she doesn’t think enough of herself to do that and that apparently none of her friends or family care enough to break it down for her. When it comes to girls like Rhianna (or even someone in Britneys or Lindsays positions for that matter) I just want to move them into my house for a while, sit them down and say “things don’t have to be like this and you don’t have to live like this, you DO deserve better. You’re beautiful and talented and you can take control of your life” Once we as a people start raising our children with better self esteem things like this will stop (hopefully) happening. Again, if I offended anyone it was not intentional and I’m sorry.

  19. Samantha says:

    dude, I don’t even care if it’s a PR stunt. Look how ecstatic that little girl is! She’ll never forget that and I think it was a lovely thing to do.

  20. Stephanie says:

    Aw this is such a nice story. I love Rihanna and I really hope things get better for her.

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