By Amy McRary, Knoxville News-Sentinel

He is cute, cuddly and his wardrobe can take him anywhere.

He may be only an 18-inch plush toy but Key-mo Bear knows people and goes places.

Home for the stuffed, huggable bear is the outpatient chemotherapy unit of the University of Tennessee Medical Center’s Cancer Institute. Wearing cub-sized attire and perched on the counter of the nurses’ station, he’s the unit’s unofficial mascot. The plump plush is more than a toy to many patients, their families and nurses.

Key-mo’s an adventurer, confidante and friend. He’s attended a pal’s wedding, flown on planes, seen marvels here and afar. Patients and nurses giggle and grin when they talk about him. “To us it’s just a fun thing to do. And anything that makes it a little lighter is good,” says Cindy Hansard, nurse coordinator for the outpatient chemotherapy unit.

Key-mo arrived four years ago, a gift from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Nurses wondered what to do with the toy dressed in a tracksuit. “I hated to throw him in the closet. He was so cute,” Hansard recalls.

So nurses propped the pumpkin-colored bear on the counter. They started changing his clothes to match the seasons using costumes they made or children’s castoffs from home. Key-mo was dressed as a pumpkin for Halloween, an Indian for Thanksgiving, Santa for Christmas and a bright green shamrock of sorts for St. Patrick’s Day.

Key-mo has worn wings and held a bow and arrow for Valentine’s Day while swinging from the ceiling. A snowman costume adds pounds; summer brings swim trunks, flippers and goggles. Formal occasions are marked with a tuxedo, top hat and black shoes. He had a UT football helmet and uniform, but they were stolen.

But this cub’s not just about clothes. He’s a well-traveled primate. Yet his adventures began with a fright.

About six months after his arrival, Key-mo was kidnapped. During a long two weeks the outpatient unit got snapshots of the bear in spots around the medical center. “It was an inside job,” says Hansard.

Key-mo returned unharmed to soon become a traveling companion for patients, nurses and volunteers. The only rule is he must return with lots of vacation photos so patients “see places they might not be able to go,” says Hansard.

The albums include photos of a grinning Key-mo in front of Maine lighthouses, in the jaws of a stuffed St. Augustine, Fla. alligator and floating in a Savannah, Ga. pool. “He’s a good traveler,” says outpatient chemotherapy unit nurse Randi McBrayer, who carried Key-mo around Maine.

During a 2001 Cancun trip this party animal danced with a Mexican mariachi band, sat on an Aztec ruin and rode a boat in sunshades and swim trunks. He returned from a trip to Hawaii in a new print shorts set and yellow lei.

Last October Key-mo acquired a wife, a brown bear named Florence Nighting-Bear. Florence was a gift from the family member of a patient. She’s more petite than her plump hubby and doesn’t have his wanderlust. Nurses don’t foresee Key-mo and Flo raising cubs on their counter in the near future.

Key-mo left Flo home when he attended the Jan. 4 wedding of chemotherapy patient Molly Ann Miller to Michael Langsdorf. A special guest, Key-mo was ushered in to sit with the mothers of the bride and groom. He danced the Hokey-Pokey and Electric Slide at the reception and went with the couple on a weeklong Savannah honeymoon.

“We took him everywhere,” Molly Langsdorf says. “Everybody would say, ‘Why are you carrying a bear around, sitting him in his own chair?’ Because you have to carry him like family. We told everybody the story.”

Diagnosed with breast cancer, Langsdorf, 27, says it’s good for her to see Key-mo when she goes for her outpatient treatments. “He’s very comforting.”

“He’s just our little buddy,” says Hansard. “It can be very hectic here, with all kinds of emotions. This is something to have fun with. Laughter is good; smiling is good.”

And Key-mo always smiles.

(used with permission by the Knoxville News-Sentinel)

Amy McRary may be reached at 865.342.6437; amymcrary@comcast.net.