Working in hospice care can be incredibly heartbreaking, as most of the patients there know that they will likely not return home. As someone who works in hospice care, nurse Brenda Buurstra does everything she can to make her patients as comfortable as possible. In order to do this, she has a secret weapon that few people knew about, until this video went viral!

Brenda was caring for a patient named Robert Olson at a hospice in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Robert had worked until he was 85 years-old, and he was admitted to the hospital because he was having trouble breathing. His family noticed how bad his symptoms were immediately after he arrived at the hospice.

“We did not think he was coming home this time,” said his daughter, Roberta Lytle.

Since Robert could not receive a pacemaker because of his age, he was put in hospice care. That’s how he was put in Brenda’s care.

Brenda and Robert were watching a show about Pat Boone one day when the elderly man informed the nurse that though he had never liked the country music legend, there was one song of his that he enjoyed. Sure enough, Brenda knew it!

The song that Robert liked was “You Light Up My Life,” and he started to respond as soon as Brenda began to sing it.

“I’m just blown away because the woman’s got a voice,” he said.

Brenda was able to sing part of the song, but she did not know all of it, so she promised Robert that she would print out the lyrics to bring in for him the next day. His family was touched by this gesture!

“Even through his little venting mask he was wearing, his eyes lit up. His whole countenance changed, and he had a big smile,” Roberta said. “You could tell that song lit him up. Literally ‘You Light Up My Life,’ that song really just lit him up. You could tell it touched his heart.”

Roberta caught the moment Brenda brought in the lyrics to sing for her father on camera, and he shocked everyone by joining in with her! Just one week later, Robert was discharged from the hospice and was headed home with his family!

“I have sung to patients for 14 years, and this is just the first time I got caught … To make that awful hospital stay they’re going through just a little bit better, a little bit brighter,” Brenda said. “I wanted to be on a team of positive people, and that’s what we have here at Bronson. I’m not the only nurse who goes above and beyond at Bronson. This is what we do every day.”

Check out the powerful video for yourself below!