Dr. Leandro Brandão Guimarães sees that fear every week. He is a children’s ear, nose and throat surgeon in Divinópolis, a city in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil.
Many of his little patients come in for things like having their tonsils or adenoids out. Even when the surgery is routine, the strange rooms, the masks and the beeping machines can make a child cry and cling to their parents.
So he came up with an idea.
Before the operation, the children are offered a costume. Wonder Woman. Spider-Man. Batman. A princess dress. Sometimes the doctor and the nurses join in too.
Suddenly the hospital corridor is not a scary place. It is a mission.
In the videos, you can see the change in their faces. A little girl in a Wonder Woman cape marches down the corridor with her head up. A tiny Spider-Man waves to his mum. A Batman climbs onto the bed like it is the Batmobile.
Instead of being wheeled in crying, many of them walk in as heroes.
A calmer child is not just a happier child. Less fear before an operation can also make the whole day easier for the little patient, the parents and the medical team.
He grew up around medicine, as the son of a cardiologist. Long before the costumes, he took part in a clown project that visited children in hospital. He saw then how much a little play could help a sick child.
Videos of his superhero patients have been watched millions of times around the world. In 2025, his work was honoured with an international award in Milan, Italy.
He is married to a speech therapist and is a dad of two himself, so he knows exactly how worried parents feel in that waiting room.
Would you want a doctor like this for your kids or grandkids? Tell us in the comments.
