Plain White T's Tom Higgenson surprises cancer patient named Delilah

LOS ANGELES - "It's crazy. I did not expect any of this," says singer/songwriter Tom Higgenson of the Grammy-nominated band Plain White T's. 

Higgenson is referring to the Instagram/TikTok video that went viral showing his surprise visit to an 8-year-old girl in the hospital.

Her name is Delilah, and she's been battling cancer for four years. Higgenson posted that every day through it all Delilah listened to the band's hit song "Hey There Delilah."

He says she was named after the hit song that got a 2008 Grammy nomination and a Teen Choice Award in 2009 for Song of the Year. "We're going on 20 years since I wrote this song, which is mind-blowing" he says.

The band got a direct message on their Instagram page about meeting Delilah.  He lives in Chicago and promised to make that happen the next time he was in Los Angeles. When the band was here last week to shoot a music video, he made time to surprise Delilah who is at Children's Hospital Los Angeles.

The viral video starts out with Delilah in the hospital being shown a video on a cell phone of Higgenson saying hello and starting to play his song. Then he emerges in real life from behind a curtain. Delilah lights up with delight. The singer sings his song to her and then they hug.

"Just walking out I was really nervous. Of course, we play to thousands of people all the time. This was an important moment, you know." He promised to have her out at the next LA concert.

The special moment was organized by Isaiah Garza who's known for making special moments happen.  FOX 11 had previously profiled the moment he surprised an elderly veteran by taking him to Disneyland.  

The original Delilah was a girl Higgenson met while in school. They stayed friendly over the years but never dated.

The Plain White T's are releasing new music in February. Their new single called Spaghetti Tattoo will be released on February 10.