Canadian music star Drake has visited an 11-year-old girl who needs a new heart after a video showing her performing the “Kiki challenge” in hospital went viral online.
The rapper shared photos of himself with Sofia Sanchez, who has heart failure, on Instagram.
Drake, whose song In My Feelings spawned the social media dance phenomenon, “heard about Sanchez after a video of the young heart transplant patient dancing the ‘In My Feelings Challenge’, also known as the ‘Kiki Challenge’, came to his attention”, reports Time magazine.
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Drake “met the youngster at the Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago, where she has had open heart surgery”, reports the BBC.
Along with the photo, he posted the caption: “Me and my love Sofia talking about Bieber and owls and basketball.”
“Right when he came in I was like, ‘Oh my God,’” Sanchez says, in a video shared by the hospital on Facebook. “I didn’t talk for a minute. I was like, ‘Is this real or fake?’ He was like, ‘It’s me, Drake!’”
“This is the best birthday present I ever had.”
The story is a spot of good news following a number of controversies concerning the Kiki challenge, with police forces across the globe warning young people to stop doing it. Here's why.
What is the Kiki challenge?
The challenge, which is also known as the “In My Feelings challenge”, involves jumping out of a moving car and walking/dancing alongside it to the song In My Feelings by Canadian hip-hop artist Drake, while the car is moving.
The craze was originally started by the internet comedian Shiggy, who posted a video of himself on his Instagram profile dancing to the song. Since his video went viral, thousands of people have taken up the challenge. Celebrities, among them Will Smith, have joined in and been spotted online taking part in the craze.
Connecticut State Police declared that dancers could face a reckless endangerment charge if they were caught in the act. The warning was posted on the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) Twitter feed last week.
A spokesman from the organisation said: “Hopping out of a moving vehicle or jumping into lanes of traffic to show your dance moves is foolish and dangerous – to you and those around you.
“There’s a time and place for everything, but our nation’s highways and roadways are no place for the #InMyFeelings challenge.”
