Bring in Tie Domi and the Leafs.

The cloud of pain was lifted yesterday when the Leafs paid their annual visit to the Hospital for Sick Children. They didn't have to promise to win the Stanley Cup for them. They just had to hand out autographed cards, chat for a few minutes and play some foosball.

Kathleen Galt, a 13-year-old from Brighton, Ont., who only three years ago was full of jump and joy, hadn't smiled for weeks — until Domi walked over.

"She has lost the ability to be a child," dad Doug Galt whispered while gently stroking her hair as she sat in a wheelchair, heavily sedated.

She's pretty as a princess with big eyes and long, brown hair, but her taste in hockey players runs counter to her delicate looks.

She prefers the rough-and-tumble Domi.

"He's her favourite," her dad said while Mats Sundin and Eric Lindros were out of earshot. She also follows the Trenton Sting of the Provincial Junior A league.

Kathleen was the only girl among a handful of boys aged 8-17, waving flags and staring in wonder, hardly saying a word.

One boy, Tyler Burlatschenko, 14, of Keswick, who has just developed Type 1 diabetes, listened while an IV drip worked its magic. Leaf goalie Ed Belfour comforted him with stories of NHL players who had diabetes.

Domi said he never tires of seeing these kids: "I've learned never to take life for granted."