Personal Journeys: The Fairy Godmother

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Staff photographer Curtis Compton captures the magic of 91-year-old Jackie Viener as she brings hope, joy and secret wishes to hospitalized children.

AJC photographer Curtis Compton spent a month roaming the corridors of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston to capture the joy Jackie Viener brings children suffering from serious disease. Here, “world’s best hugger” Viener ends a visit with 13-year-old Hannah Layfield by bestowing one of her trademark embraces before the girl’s last chemotherapy treatment.

Around her neck, Viener always wears a heart-shaped pendant containing a photo of the “love of her life" – her grandaughter, Amelia.

Viener spins the tale of the “Three Little Pigs” for 4-year-old Lex Money, who was awaiting his second heart transplant. She had been visiting Lex during the four years he had been undergoing multiple surgeries and treatments.

Spreading cheer and hope every Tuesday for the past seven years, Viener pushes her book cart through the hospital halls. “It’s not the easiet thing in the world, but I do it,” she says, noting that many people tell her they’re not emotionally equipped to work with sick children.

Noah Carlile, 6, of Braselton, receives a spot of fairy dust from Viener. Upon the dust is carried one wish that can be given, not granted. There is a distinct difference, she says.

Mirclae Mitchell, 12, shares a smile with Viener at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s story time, when children and parents are treated to a “magic hour,” during which “not a single child, not a single parent even thinks about the next chemo, the next shot, the next blood sample, the next procedure,” Viener says.

Viener transforms into “Fairy Godmother” by donning a costume. The final piece will be a tiara given to her by the parents of children with cancer in Richmond, Va., where she began volunteering 30 years ago.

Kevin Romosalas, 5, Norcross, seems a bit surprised to run into Viener pushing a book cart through the blood and marrow transplant unit at Children's Healthcare on Aug. 28.

Even fellow volunteers can use a wish. Fokes Link, 34, who has volunteered for two years in the children's library, closes his eyes while Viener places a piece of imaginary fairy dust in his hand.

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AJC photographer Curtis Compton spent a month roaming the corridors of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston to capture the joy Jackie Viener brings children suffering from serious disease. Here, “world’s best hugger” Viener ends a visit with 13-year-old Hannah Layfield by bestowing one of her trademark embraces before the girl’s last chemotherapy treatment.

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