Tears Flow When Kids Serenade Their Teacher Fighting Cancer

by GENEVIEVE SHAW BROWN GENEVIEVE SHAW BROWN More From Genevieve » Travel & Lifestyle Editor via GOOD MORNING AMERICA Sometimes students drive their teachers to tears for all the wrong reasons. But in this case, these kids gave Adriana Lopez all the right reasons to cry. The PS22 chorus from the largest public elementary school in Staten Island, New York -- made up of 65 fifth-graders -- serenaded Lopez, who is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer. They chose the Martina McBride song "I'm Gonna Love You Through It." The Martina McBride song has become an anthem for breast cancer awareness, so the song selection made perfect sense," said Gregg Breinberg, director of the PS22 chorus. "Lisa [Kochman, who filmed the video] and I felt the kids were up to the emotional and physical challenge of bringing that song to life for her as a gesture of support for Adriana's extreme dedication to her students." "Even on days when she was sick and fatigued, she would bring herself to work and give her everything to her students," said Breinberg. "She is a beautiful and inspiring person and no one deserves such a tribute more than she." Lopez could not be reached for comment by ABC News. The video, posted to YouTube on Tuesday, has been viewed over 1 million times. "The kids were very emotional while practicing the song, lots of tears, they're very sensitive, very soulful little people," Breinberg said. "Don't let their ages fool you. And they kept it together when she came in for the performance and showered her with hugs and flowers after it was over. It was a moment no one in the room will ever forget."

THANKS BE TO GOD FOR BEING A GREAT PART OF MY LIFE AND TO THE DIVINE INFANT FOR BEING MY MESSENGER TO GOD

Last year I was getting frustrated with no work and a lifestyle slowly slipping away from me. Pain suddenly began to take control of my life.

I found comfort in walking early in the mornings and as I walked I found time to pray. I was drawn to the Virgin Mary and remembered prayers to her that I use to say when I was a very young girl attending St.Catherine's Academy in Belize City.

One day, I saw a picture of the Divine Infant and felt drawn to her and read up all the information on her. I soon found myself praying to La Divina Infantita as she is known in Spanish.

Shortly after I found myself speaking to someone and next I was given the opportunity to help care for an elderly stroke victim. As she struggled with her illness and went back and forth to the hospital I grew in faith and prayed everyday with this little old lady. We sang religious songs and prayed every morning to greet the new day and to thank God for all he was doing for us. Then, at night, we did the same to ask for God's protection as we slept.

Eventually, I began to pray for the Blood of Jesus to wash over me and take my pain away. Two weeks ago I realized I no longer was suffering from sciatica pain and I can only thank Jesus for his miracle for me.

PRAYER IS ALWAYS THE ANSWER. IT IS ALWAYS THE WAY TO RECOVERY OF SELF AND INCREASES YOUR SERVICE TO GOD!

Interview Highlights... HOPE, A Memoir of Survival in Cleveland PART II

This book by Amanda Berry, Gina Dejesus, Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan will take you into the lives of

the captives and their captor.

A part of their interview:

On getting in Castro's car and realizing it was a mistake

DeJesus (who was kidnapped in 2004): I was kind of freaking out a little bit when he didn't turn around, but then when he started talking to me about his daughter and how he was going to take his daughter to the mall and stuff, I kind of, I little bit relaxed, but not really because I was still a little scared.

Berry (who was kidnapped in 2003): He wasn't mean in the car. Like, he was talkative and he kept the conversation going and he was talking about his kids and how one of his kids worked at the Burger King that I worked at because I had my uniform on, so he was talking about that for a couple of minutes. I couldn't tell that he was this horrible man talking to him in the van.

On being chained in the house

Berry: [It was] like 5 feet, I think? I couldn't really do nothing. You had enough room to get up and use the bathroom or something like that. ... There was a garbage can in there that I had to use for the bathroom.

It was tough trying to sleep. That chain was around my stomach and there was a big lock on it. ... So many times I wanted to turn onto my side I would have to move the chain to put the lock on the front of my stomach or I'd be lying on this big chain and this big lock and it was just uncomfortable.

On how Castro managed to keep his kidnappings a secret

Jordan: He was very clever. You can't underestimate how smooth he was. ... If you walked down the street, you didn't see that he had put a door and nailed it to those windows and had quilts [up], because he had pulled the curtains. He had the curtains inside and he tidied up his front lawn. His house was a mess because he was a big hoarder, but he was very clever. He was saying hello to neighbors; he was sweet; he drove the school bus; he was good to his friends. He just had a double life and when he walked inside his front door, he became a whole other violent person.

On Castro's sex addiction and history of domestic violence

Jordan: He had a real problem with women to say the least. ... Before he started kidnapping girls he had a common-law wife and he beat her ... he stomped on her head, broke her teeth. He said to Amanda and Gina in the house that he hated his mother. He also, by the way, went to [his mother's] house. He was very hard to figure out.

On getting pregnant and having Castro's baby

Berry: I didn't know what was going to happen or what he was going to say, but I mean, I wanted to keep the baby, I just wasn't sure what he was going to do. ...

[When she was older, my daughter] saw the chains and we had to tell her that they were bracelets and she would notice that he would lock the door when he left and she would ask him, "Why do you lock to door?" and "Why can't you leave the door unlocked? Why can't you leave the door open?" And he would just come up with a story to tell her and that would be that.

On hearing a recording of Berry's 911 call

Jordan: You can hear how desperate and frantic it was ... that desperation in the voice was chilling. It really went through the city, right through the spine of the city, "Help me, help me, I'm Amanda Berry."

On re-entry into everyday life

Berry: It was scary at first, I mean, it still is a little bit. I kind of had to get used to everything again, and people and just everyday life. It wasn't easy. ... Even if you're going to the store to pay for something, something as simple as that, you're just not used to it. Or walking to the park, I was scared for a while to even walk outside by myself.

DeJesus: Trusting people and walking to the corner store and always looking back to see if someone is right behind you, ready to take you or something.

On why she wanted to tell this story

Jordan: I've been a correspondent and lived around the world and seen really sad, painful tragedies and you always wonder how people can get through pain, and here I talk to Amanda and Gina and made lifelong friends and helped them try to explain to everyone else how you do it. ... what you do is you find a mental life raft, somehow. They'll tell you. For Amanda and Gina, their life raft was — they clung to hope that they would get out of there — that they would outlast their captor and they would get back to their families.

FROM 10 HORRIFIC YEARS IN CAPTIVITY TO A BOOK ENTITLED "HOPE"

What it is all about:

On the day before her 17th birthday, in 2003, Amanda Berry disappeared as she made her way home from her job at a Burger King in Cleveland. A year later, another Cleveland teen, 14-year-old Gina DeJesus, vanished while returning from middle school. Searches for both girls came up empty, and as the years passed it seemed less and less likely that either girl would ever be seen again.

In fact, the girls were still in Cleveland. They had been abducted by a man named Ariel Castro, who had kidnapped another young woman, Michelle Knight, in 2002.

Berry, DeJesus and journalist Mary Jordan tell Fresh Air's Terry Gross about the girls' years in captivity, during which time Castro kept Berry, DeJesus and Knight chained up in his boarded-up home. He raped them and nearly starved them to death. Berry became pregnant with Castro's child, a girl named Jocelyn, who was born in 2006.

Finally, on May 6, 2013, more than 10 years after she was abducted, Berry saw an opportunity to escape. Castro left the house and neglected to lock one of the doors. Berry ran to the unlocked door, but was stopped by a second locked door. She started flagging down a neighbor.

"The neighbor next door, he saw me waving my hand down and I'm kind of going crazy on the door," Berry tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. The neighbor "was just looking at the door to figure out something. So he kind of kicks the bottom ... so I kicked it out a little bit more just enough so I could fit through there and I climbed out and then I had my daughter climb out and we were free."

Berry called the police, who were shocked to find the girls alive.

"The whole miracle in this story is that the longer someone is kidnapped the less likely [it is] that they are alive," Jordan says.

Castro was arrested soon after and later sentenced to life plus 1,000 years in prison. He committed suicide after serving about a month in prison.

Berry and DeJesus, with the help of Jordan and fellow journalist Kevin Sullivan, recount the story of their captivity and escape in Hope: A Memoir of Survival in Cleveland.

A MESSAGE IN A SMILE... A CHILD'S JOURNEY IN HER FIGHT TO WIN OVER LEUKEMIA

iF WE WANT TO KNOW HOW THIS LITTLE GIRL IS SURVIVING WITH LEUKEMIA WE ONLY HAVE TO LOOK AT HER FACE. THE SMILE THAT IS ALWAYS PRESENT ON HER FACE IS A DEFINITE REASON ALONG WITH THE MANY PRAYERS EVERYDAY FROM FAMILY AND FRIENDS THAT GOD HEARS AND ANSWERS.

IN THESE TWO PICTURES WE CAN SEE CAMILA MAKING HER NECKLACE OF BEADS. EACH COLOUR TELLS US ABOUT THE STAGE OF LEUKEMIA SHE IS ENCOUNTERING BRAVELY.

Camila - The Story of a Brave Little Girl with Leukemia

Camila and her brother

 Camila with her uncle

 Waiting for her brother to come while she is on chemo

 Camila's brother arrived and they had lunch together.

NOTHING STOPS THIS BRAVE LITTLE GIRL FROM SMILING. LETS CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR HER AND FOR HER FAMILY.

ESTA EN TUS MANOS ESTAR FELIZ