Girl records song to benefit children's hospital

PALO ALTO, Calif. (KGO) -- A young girl with a life threatening medical condition pulled through the crisis and discovered her passion for singing in the process. Now that she's on the road to recovery, her music career is taking off.

Reagan Claire Smith, 10, likes to sing and has become a YouTube sensation overnight.

"That got posted four days ago, I think, and it already has 37,000 views, which is amazing. I didn't know it would have that many views. I guess it's just my friends and family&" said Smith.

Just a few years ago, Reagan was diagnosed with a platelet disorder that threatened her world.

"Chronic ITP that's what Reagan had. Hers went on beyond a year and it made a big difference in her life. She was restricted on all her activities," said Bert Glader, M.D., from Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. "The fear, which is rare but it does occur, is bleeding into the head, which we call an intracranial bleed."

She endured hospitalizations and chemotherapy at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford. Nothing worked. Finally, she had her spleen removed and started to recover, re-discovering her love of singing. A summer audition morphed into a music producer helping concoct the YouTube video.

"She just made it all up on the spot. She just did all the harmonies herself. I heard them say, 'Wow, this one can really sing,'" said Sandra Smith, Reagan's mother.

So Reagan is beating the odds yet again with another goal.

"I'll really want go to med school and be a surgeon, but on weekends I want to sing," said Reagan.

"I anticipate she'll have a nice long singing career," said Glader.

By the way, Reagan is donating all the profits from sales of her song on iTunes to the Bass Center for Pediatric Cancer and Blood Diseases at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.

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