A Superhero Surprise for Luella

Luella Konsmo is an avid fan of superheroes, and so when she broke her arm at the end of May and needed a cast, she knew exactly what she wanted.

Samantha Konsmo, Luella’s mother, said her love of superheroes started with her older brother, Cruz.

“He loves superheroes, and she loves him,” Konsmo said.

Luella and her family were enjoying a stroll around Green Lake in Seattle, when Luella fell and broke her arm. Their day of fun in the sun turned into a trip to Seattle Children’s Emergency Department.

When doctors in the Emergency Department asked Luella what color cast she wanted, the beaming 5-year-old didn’t hesitate. She said she wanted a “Thanos arm.”

It was a response her care team wasn’t expecting, and one that captured their hearts.

Thanos is a fictional supervillain from the Marvel comics and appears in the popular movie adaptations, most recently Avengers: Endgame.

“She made so many friends that day in the emergency room,” Konsmo said. “She absolutely loved it. She got a lot of attention.”

Luella left the hospital with a plain cast so she could adorn the blank canvas with glittering Infinity Stones. She bedazzled the cast to look just like Thanos, with six sparkling stones.

“Thanos is my favorite,” Luella said.

Superhero Luella

Luella loved her cast. For four weeks, she said it gave her superpowers.

“It snaps bad things away,” Luella said.

And so, when Luella came back to Seattle Children’s to have her cast removed, she was inevitably a little sad. She said she didn’t want to lose her superpowers.

“I’ll have to have an invisible Thanos arm,” Luella said. “I’ll still have superpowers, you just won’t be able to see it.”

Little did Luella know, her care team had a special surprise planned for her.

Saving her cast

“Is that Thanos?” the orthopedic technologist said as he walked into the room to remove Luella’s cast.

She was beaming with pride.

“Yes,” she said.

“I really like it,” he said. “Would you like to keep it?”

“I want to sleep with it,” Luella replied.

Her cast was carefully removed and cleaned so Luella could take it home with her.

Thanos for a day

Physcian Assistant Keith LeMay came into the room to meet Luella’s family. He talked to them about Luella’s X-ray and explained how well Luella had done taking care of her arm. It looked great and healed well.

“For doing such a good job, I have a surprise for you,” said LeMay. He smiled and showed Luella his badge. For the day, he was playing a dual role.

“Today, I’m Thanos,” LeMay said.

He then pulled out a real Thanos glove, complete with six glittering stones and handed it to Luella. Now, she wouldn’t have to worry about parting with her superpowers.

Luella was excited at the sight.

She smiled and whispered to her brother, “Don’t worry, I’ll share with you.”

After the visit, Luella and her family bounded down Seattle Children’s hallway. Luella had a big smile on her face as they left the hospital.

“It’s a blast to see a smile on a kiddo’s face,” LeMay said. “And her smile was extra big today.”

For Luella and her family, it was a special day as well.

“These will be great memories,” Konsmo said.