By Rachael Perry
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WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (WPBF) — A former patient’s final gift wasn’t expensive or elaborate — but it’s now impossible to ignore. Inside Good Samaritan Hospital’s oncology unit, the small stuffed animal is making a big impact.
The hamster stuffed animal came with the nametag “Franklin” and was gifted to the nursing staff in the hospital’s oncology unit by Gregg Hunt, a former patient. The small gift now has its own Instagram documenting its travels.
Gregg spent just two weeks as a patient at Good Samaritan Hospital in West Palm Beach. But listening to the nursing staff speak about him, you’d think they had known him for a lifetime.
“He’s unforgettable. Unforgettable. I can see his smile right now. No matter what he was going through, he would always smile, just try to be positive, spread positivity, and keep us always smiling,” Nubia Brown, an oncology nurse, said.
After two weeks of treatment, Gregg left the hospital to enter rehab and would later move to a hospital closer to his family. He lost his battle to cancer in October.
His wife Donna Hunt told WPBF 25 News, she’ll never forget their time at Good Samaritan.
“The hospital was, believe it or not, a beautiful experience if you can imagine that under the circumstances, because of the nurses,” Donna said.
Despite his diagnosis, Donna said Gregg tried to keep a positive attitude, and the nurses were a huge part of that.
“I have to say the oncology floor at that hospital is just unbelievable. All of those girls are so connected and so wonderful to the patients and families,” she said.
After they had returned home, she remembers her husband writing this letter.
“He sat in his office, and he put together this beautiful note to the girls with a giant smiley face in it. He had me drop that off and Franklin. He said, ‘Please stop at the hospital and take these things up to the fourth floor and I did,” Donna said.
Inside the basket was Franklin the hamster and a bunch of smiley face pins.
“He wanted us to take care of him, and since he was leaving the hospital, he wanted to make sure that Frankie helped all the other patients and kept everyone smiling,” Brown said.
The nursing staff put Frankie in the break room and would send each other pictures of themselves eating lunch with the stuffed animal. Frankie’s adventures grew from there.
“I never would have dreamed that all of a sudden I would see on Instagram and start talking to these nurses at 3 a.m. in the morning about the adventures of Franklin or Frankie GG. It was just incredible,” Donna said.
Brown took Frankie on vacation with her to the Dominican Republic and documented the trip in pictures. Another nurse in the unit, Sonia Gomez, then got the idea to make Frankie its own Instagram page.
“We should do a social media page on Frankie, I think it’s a really nice message. Gregg really wanted us to spread smiles. Especially with us being in oncology, it’s not an easy job,” Gomez said.
Over time, more and more of the staff began taking Frankie on trips with them.
“A few of our nurses went to Europe and took pictures of Frankie in front of the Eiffel Tower,” Gomez told WPBF.
Gregg’s wife, Donna, said grieving her husband has been one of the hardest things she’s ever been through, but seeing the posts warms her heart.
“It’s something that I look forward to. I can tell you that every now and then, I get a new one. I get an alert that there’s a new posting on Instagram, it pops up, and it warms my heart. But the grieving has been not so good. It’s very difficult,” she said.
Gregg’s primary nurse, Danielle Steinmetz, said that, despite his short time spent on the fourth floor, Gregg’s kindness won’t be forgotten.
“It just took this whole silly little hamster to a whole other level of realizing why we do this. It’s nice to think that, you know what, even though Greg is no longer here, Frankie is, and that story of him just continues to live on. So every time we talk about Frankie, we get to tell Gregg’s story again,” she told WPBF.
The nurses all agreed that Gregg’s message was to smile more and spread positivity. They said that they will carry that on through Frankie, both inside the hospital and on all the adventures they take him on.
Frankie’s adventures can be found on Instagram @ adventureswithfrankie_gg.
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