Boy made a ‘hugging machine’ for ‘superhero’ teacher with cancer

A 5-year-old boy has touched millions of hearts after making a “hugging machine” for his teacher who has stage four cancer.

Keri Stromski discovered she had breast cancer in 2016, but continued to work as a kindergarten teacher and went online during the Covid-19 pandemic.

As coronavirus has led to social distancing measures, like no unnecessary contact, one little boy named Avery has invented a contraption to fight back so she could get hugs from her adoring students.

Cathie Green, Avery’s mother, had seen families coming up with a creative way to show affection in a covid compliant way - using plastic sheets and assisted her son on creating their own to give to Stromski.

Constructed out of two plastic sheets, it separates the huggers, each person having their own protective shield.

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After fashioning it, they delivered it to their teacher at her house in Long Island, New York.

Speaking to Good Morning America, Cathie said that Keri was blown away with the present, calling to her husband, “Come out here, look at what they made me... I’m going to get to hug one of my students!”

When talking about Keri, Cathie said, “She’s an amazing person and I think she needs the kids as much as the kids need her. This was the least I could do after all she’s done for our babies.”

Labelling the teacher as a “superhero”, and described the lengths she went to make her students happy, like puppets and wigs.

On Twitter, Keri shared her love of the machine.

Currently, she is getting treatment at Stony Brook Hospital and wants to return to teaching after the Easter holiday, while her students believe she is on a “super-secret mission to save a new puppet.”