Choir of nurses surprise their colleague battling aggressive form of ALS with a beautiful tribute

Forty-Three-year-old Carly Colvell received a heartbreaking diagnosis in 2019: an aggressive form of ALS that causes progressive paralysis of the muscles. The rare degenerative disease, also known as Lou Gehrig's, affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, causing a loss of muscle control. Those with the condition experience twitching or weakness in a limb at first and later slurred speech. Describing the pain of accepting her disease the mother-of-two wrote in her blog post, "Each change is emotionally destructive. My whole body has changed. I no longer can use my arms, hands, or legs, and the most painful has been the loss of my head and neck muscles, which causes head drop." As Colvell navigates the grief of accepting her new normal her friends and family have rallied behind her. A GoFundMe page described her as an "amazing person with the biggest heart. Her positive attitude in the face of this diagnosis is truly inspiring."

In an attempt to bring joy into Colvell's life during the holidays The Nurse Choir, a group of front-line nurses of Northwell Health dropped by her driveway and sang seven songs of hope to Colvell and her family. Winnie Mele, Director of Perioperative Services at Plainview Hospital and member of the choir, called it a "magical" experience. "When we got invited to sing for Carly, I think I can speak for all of us, that was the most emotional gig that we did," Mele told PEOPLE. "Every song we sang had a message of hope. Here's this girl in this wheelchair who feels hopeless, yet every song we sang had to do with hope and things are going to be better and lean on me and don't worry."

Colvell who happens to be a former colleague having worked as an employee in the marketing department at Northwell Health was touched by the gesture and so was the rest of her family. "I think because we're nurses, whenever we do anything that has to do with the sick or health care it means so much more to us," Mele shared. "She's crying, her husband's wiping her tears, the nurses suctioning her trach, the whole thing was so emotional." "You read her blog posts and I can hear in her voice now that she's losing hope," she continued. "We had an opportunity to bring her joy. And I think it wasn't all about Carly. It was about Carly's husband. It was about the kids, the nurse, her mom, her sister. You know, it was just a minute of fun and we tried to make it celebratory."