It began with a video of eight-year-old Makeya Brown talking about Nationwide Children’s Hospital and her wish to give her mom, Shyla Brown, the “best Mother’s Day ever.”
Makeya got her wish, so she and Mom, and the rest of the Brown Family, will be traveling to Disney World thanks to the generosity of Lane Bryant, a women’s clothing store chain.
News of the trip reached Shyla on Friday, just two days before Mother’s Day.
Members of the Brown Family were involved in an auto accident near Vanceburg in August 2014. Five-year-old Quinton Brown perished at the scene and two of his siblings, Makeya and Max, were seriously injured.
Makeya and Max, who is now four-years-old, were treated for spinal cord injuries at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. They remain confined to wheelchairs to get around but are continuing to show improvement.
Neveya Brown, now age three, and Shyla were not hurt in the accident. Steven Brown, the dad, was injured in the crash and has now mostly recovered.
The horrific accident brought the community together to raise money, pray, and help the family in various ways.
The accident also prompted engineering studies on Dugan’s Curve, the section of Ky. Rt. 8 about two miles east of Vanceburg where that accident, and countless others, occurred.
Some steps have been taken to make the Dugan’s Curve area safer for motorists and more work is planned.
Back to Makeya’s wish and how it was ultimately granted.
“I got a phone call from Nationwide a few months ago,” said Shyla. “It was from the rehab center that the kids were at while they were being treated there,” said Shyla.
“I answered the phone and they told me that there was this lady that wanted to do a video to bring awareness to the hospital and the lady had asked them what previous patient they wanted so (everyone from the rehab center) all said ‘the Brown Family,'” Shyla said.
“They told me that it was a father/daughter thing and wanted to know if I knew if Steven and Keya would be interested,” Shyla continued.
“Steven was not home but I went ahead and told them yes because I knew Keya would love it,” she said.
“Before they got off the phone they got my permission to give the woman our information and for her to call me. It was either the next day or the day after the woman called and talked to Steven,” Shyla said.
“I’m not sure what exactly was said but all I knew was that I was not allowed to go along with them, that it could only be him and her,” she said.
“The beginning of April is when I found out why I was not allowed to go. It was because it was a surprise for me,” Shyla said.
“I found out when I got on Facebook and saw that my mom had shared a video from Lane Bryant and Nationwide Children’s of my Makeya. I watched it and I just cried, I could not have seen that video at a better time,” she said.
“Nothing anyone said mattered any more because in this little girl’s eyes, I was everything. In this video, Keya told them that if she could give me anything she would give me a trip to Disney World,” Shyla said.
“That trip is something I told her about since she was real little, that I would try my hardest to take her there. I told her that it was one of my dreams to take my kids to Disney World. This video also showed me that she listens and that she loved me so much she wanted to make my dream come true,” she said.
“Friday (May 6) around 5:00 or so, Steven went outside to take trash out and saw a box on the porch. He thought it was a package sent from Leading Respiratory but when we opened it up it was from Lane Bryant,” she said.
“The first thing in the box was a letter on top of another box addressed to Steven and Keya thanking them,” Shyla said. “I was reading over Steven’s shoulder when I read, ‘We are making Keya’s wish for her mom come true with a three-day pass to Disney World.'”
“My hand went to my mouth and I just started bawling,” she said. “After I calmed down we surprised the kids with it.”
“Inside that other box was a letter to me, two Minnie Mouse dolls, a Mickey Mouse doll, Minnie ears, a Disney carrying bag, and a $500 gift card we can spend while we are there,” she said.
Shyla said Layne Bryant is paying for airfare there and back, hotel accommodations at a Disney hotel, a three-day family pass at the Disney theme park, and $500 in spending money.
Including Makeya, seven current or former patients of Nationwide Children’s Hospital were granted their wishes,” Shyla added.
The short video features Makeya talking about her wish and her mom.
This is how it is introduced:
“Meet Makeya. Nationwide Children’s Hospital helped her…and if you share (and share and share!) this video, you can help too. She wants to give her a mom a super-special surprise to thank her for being there during her treatments. And we’ll help make it happen when you hit the share button.”
Shyla posted this comment to Lane Bryant:
“When our accident first happened my family was all separated. My husband and Makeya were sent to a hospital in Huntington (West Virginia). One of my sons, my other daughter, and myself were sent to a local hospital where they rushed my son to Nationwide by helicopter and my other daughter there by ambulance.
“After I was released, I went up there to be with my son and youngest daughter since my husband was with Makeya. She had a parent there, the other two didn’t. Later that night they released my youngest daughter and I sent her home with my mom so I could stay with my son.
“A week later I had to come home to do something no mother wants to ever do. I had to lay my other son to rest. The day we had to say, ‘See you later’ not ‘Goodbye’ was the first day I got to see my Makeya since the accident and the second day I got to see my husband.
“When I walked in the room, she was crying and scared. They had her on so much medication she couldn’t understand where she was or who anyone was. It was so hard the day after that to leave her side to go back to my son. At that moment I knew that I would fight to get her transferred and a week later, two weeks after our accident, she was transferred to Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
“I will never forget that day because it was the moment that I stopped questioning my parenting. It was the moment that I knew no matter how many mistakes I made that I was doing something right because Keya was on so much medicine the first day I saw her she did not remember me being there. The day she was transferred to Children’s was the first day she actually saw me. I remember it like it was yesterday.
“I walked out of my sons room and watched in one direction them wheeling him to surgery I then look the other way and see them wheeling Keya down the hall to her new room right beside her brother’s room. I remember the man that rode in the helicopter say, ‘There is your mommy. You have been anxious to see her this whole ride.’ She jerked her little head up and when she saw me she had tears of happiness in her eyes and she threw her arms around me and would not let go and she just started crying telling me she loved me and missed me and of course that is when I started crying.
“That look on her face I will never forget and that feeling I got I will never forget. This video gave me that feeling back so thank you very much.”
A Lane Bryant representative responded:
“Shyla – Please accept our condolences for the loss of your son. You sound like a strong and wonderful mother and we are so happy to see Max and Makeya doing so well. Thank you for sharing your story and your beautiful children with us.”
The family has a year-long window to take the all-expenses paid trip.
Max and Makeya continue to show improvement and Shyla gives regular updates on the Brown Family Facebook Page.
Watch Makeya’s video at https://www.facebook.com/LaneBryant/videos/10154306760997018.
To make a contribution to Nationwide Children’s Hospital, you can visit http://www.NationwideChildrens.org/LaneBryant.
Lane Bryant is a United States retail women’s clothing store chain focusing on plus-size clothing. It began in 1904 with the innovative maternity designs created by Lena Himmelstein Bryant Malsin. The chain consists of more than 800 outlets in 46 states.
“Self-confidence is our thing,” according to Lane Bryant’s website. “Lane Bryant provides high-quality, on-trend clothing and accessories to women sized 14 through 28 – because looking (and feeling) amazing should be accessible to every woman, everywhere.”
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