CLEVELAND — Videos of a 4-year-old girl named Brinley have gone viral, capturing the powerful impact of community support and simple acts of kindness.
Brinley has spent more than 100 days at the Cleveland Clinic. She’s awaiting a heart transplant.
Her mom, Berlyn Wyczalek, told me back in January, on a snowy day, that the family was in their room playing when her husband decided to shine a flashlight at the construction site across from them. It’s where OCP Contractors are helping build the clinic’s new neurological institute.
Wyczalek said, to their surprise, a worker shone his flashlight back, and things blossomed from there.
I spoke to Brinley and her mother via Zoom during art therapy on Thursday morning. Brinley, who’s quite the artist, was coloring a rainbow.
“He originally came back with a sign that said, ‘get well soon,’ and it had a heart on it. And it was actually really funny, because they don't know that we're a heart floor over here,” Wyczalek said. “They don't know her story or what she's waiting for. So, we were laughing, and we said, ‘Oh, he put a heart on it.' You know, how special—and that's when I wrote back, ‘Thank you. Waiting for a heart.' And I think that's when it kind of connected.”
Now, every afternoon around 3 o’clock, members from the construction team show up at a window, look across to Brinley’s room, and wave, make heart-shaped symbols with their hands, and write messages and words of encouragement on poster boards.
Wyczalek said the acts of kindness brighten Brinley’s day.
“It gives her something to look forward to every single day, and it's always something different,” Wyczalek said. “It's really been special that there's other people knowing kind of what we're going through and looking out for Brinley and gives her friends to look forward to and wave to outside of these four walls.”
The family said their support system is strong, and they hope that sharing their story will help Brinley and other families facing similar challenges.
“It also brings awareness to pediatric organ donation,” Wyczalek said. “Just trying to get the word out there that we’re just a normal family and we're just waiting for her hero heart to come.”
Many of the construction workers have met Brinley in person and brought her items such as coloring books, a giant stuffed teddy bear, and a hard hat signed by the team.
CLICK HERE for the family's GoFundMe.
