Katy Perry, Hear Avon Cancer Patient Platt 'Roar'!

When Avon cancer patient Morgan Platt, 10, came up with the idea to make a music video to Katy Perry's "Roar" at Connecticut Children's Medical Center to raise cancer awareness, she wanted it to, well, roar.

And roar Morgan Platt's video did. Less than a week since the hospital posted it on YouTube, Platt's video had already garnered 101,047 views, 1,412 likes and about 95 comments.

"When I see all the 'likes/views' it makes me so excited that people are enjoying watching us smile!" Platt said. 

Morgan and about 200 of her peers gathered at Roaring Brook School to watch the video the evening of the day it was released, Friday, Nov. 15 as part of its regular movie night. 

It all started with similar videos Platt saw go viral online from other hospitals. 

"I was surfing the net and saw some other hospital videos on YouTube," Platt said in an email. " I went to treatment and showed my nurse who said, we've talked about doing this."  

But, according to Platt's mother, Kathy, "Morgan doesn't like to talk, she likes to do - immediately!"  So, Kathy made some calls and next thing she knew they scheduled a date to tape a music video of their own.

"She chose the song, Roar, thinking it might scare away cancer," Kathy Platt said.

The Platts asked their friends in Avon for costume contributions that might fit the song lyrics, such as butterflies, bumblebees and boxing gloves.  

The vision for what the video would look like was all Morgan. Platt recruited her friend, Lauren Pastore, who is an Avon High School student and dancer who survived cancer, to choreograph the video. Kelly Ray, a Farmington student with cancer, was also involved in the video, as well as her mother, Carolyn. 

Mike Dauphin from New Haven's and Ashford's Hole in the Wall Gang, founded by actor Paul Newman for children with illnesses, came on board to produce the video in less than a week. 

Her mother said that she also hopes that it will raise awareness about the "lack of funding for pediatric research" and how many children are fighting cancer.

"46 kids today in the US will be diagnosed with cancer," she said. "There are 50,000 kids in US hospitals battling [cancer] right now and over 500,000 globally yet only 4 percent of National Cancer Institute's budget is used for pediatric funding."

Morgan said that she, the other patients and hospital staff had a lot of fun making the music video. 

"I hope the video will raise awareness for pediatric cancer," Morgan Platt said. "And, even though having treatment is not the greatest thing, you can make it fun."

Have you heard her roar, Katy? Help Morgan's video go even more viral and maybe even reach Katy Perry by clicking on the link provided and sharing the YouTube video.