Costumed window washers delight patients

ST. LOUIS -- Window washers dressed as Spider-Man are delighting young patients at St. Louis Children's Hospital.

Despite temperatures in the upper 80s earlier this week, Matt McGehee and Andy Weeks couldn't bring themselves to pull off their hoods and full-body superhero suits.

"It's just for the kids," McGehee told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "The kids look up, and their eyes get all big, and then this slow smile creeps across their face."

Weeks loves it so much, he didn't want to take off his mask after work.

"Without the mask, without the kids, I'm just plain Andy," he said. "So, I kept it on."

Andy Weeks, wearing a Spider-Man costume, peers into the room of patient Jacob Rodriguez, 10, of Glendale, Missouri, as Weeks washes windows at St. Louis Children's Hospital. (Robert Cohen ~ St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

For the past 18 months, they and the crew from McGehee's Allglass Window Cleaning have done their work at the hospital dressed as superheroes. Other hospitals around the country also use costumed window washers.

Beth Damsgaard-Rodriguez said earlier this week it was the first time she'd seen son Jacob Rodriguez, 10, smile in a couple of days. He had surgery after a painful burst appendix.

"That's exactly what Jacob needed at the time," she said.

Isaiah Bush, 6, has sickle cell disease and was in the hospital after waking up at home in Belleville, Illinois, with a stomach ache and swollen spleen. He perked up when he saw ropes hanging in front of his window, followed by soap. He crawled into the window seat with his mother to get a better view and found himself face-to-face with Spider-Man, who spent an extra-long time cleaning his window.

"I cannot believe it," Isaiah said.

"Hey you feel better, OK?" the window washer called out.

Isaiah replied, "OK!"

For Cody Mitchell, 17, of Quincy, Illinois, being in the hospital with seizures that can't be controlled by medication is scary and seeing Spider-Man made him happy, said his mother, Linda England.

"He's had a rough morning," England said. "For him to be able to see that and smile, it made me feel so good."