I have a good friend (former BYU roommate) who has a little boy named Hyrum. Hyrum was born with Down's Syndrome. His 4 years of life so far have been a struggle, not only with that condition, but also with other difficulties it sometimes brings: heart issues, breathing issues, seizure issues, and regular hospital stays due to all of the above. Not much tugs at my emotions more than seeing the struggles of small children. I've been both heartbroken for their little boy and family in their struggles, as well as inspired by their faith and love of God.
Just a little over a month ago, they got more bad news: little Hyrum was diagnosed with leukemia. Since that time, my buddy's wife (April) has posted daily about the ups and downs of Hyrum's current life in constant hospital care. Today is day 28.
Yesterday she posted about the kindness of another cancer patient, a teen girl whose room is near Hyrum's. There was a photo of both on a bed together, wearing head coverings to mask their loss of hair from the chemo, but giggling and smiling together.
This morning, when I woke up too early and couldn't get back to sleep, after checking Cougaboard, I also looked at Facebook and saw an early post from April, which I'll link below. Hyrum is apparently a big fan of the movie Moana, and in particular of the character Maui. Watching that movie helps him through the hard times, makes him laugh, and helps him forget about the pain just for a little bit. He sings along with the songs.
The post this morning was about the kindness of both friends and strangers. A friend of April's had a connection to Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) who voiced Maui in the movie. That friend contacted Dwayne, and he then took the time to record a special video just for Hyrum. Snippets of that video are in the link. And the emotions hit me once again, but this time in a good way. I just became a fan of The Rock.
As we celebrate giving thanks this month, this is a reminder to me to not only say it, but to live that thanks by showing kindness to others.