ST. LOUIS - Patients at Children's Hospital got a once-in-a-lifetime surprise on Tuesday.

Members of the St. Louis Police Department's SWAT team suited up—not in tactical gear, but as superheroes.

“We wear so many hats during our normal tour of duty,” Officer Michael Flatley said. “Not only are we instructing other officers, we're responding to the hostage and other crisis scenarios that require a SWAT response. So, this is really nice to break it up and really give back to the kids and also just have a fun day for us overall.”

Anticipation was sky high for 11-year-old Ellie Veliz.

“This is very neat,” said Danny, Ellie’s father. “Very cool to get out of the room and be mobile here after her third surgery last Thursday. Just to get out of the room and kind of look at some superheroes, it's really neat.”

The crusaders rappelled down 12 stories, stopping and waving to patients and their families along the way.

“We know that at least for that brief second, they weren't thinking about being at the hospital,” said Dave Sedlack, St. Louis Children’s Hospital Operations Manager. “They were thinking about their childhood heroes and the superheroes right in front of them.”