TYLER (KYTX) - Camps, vacations, sleeping in and time with friends are typical things for kids to do over summer break, but for one Tyler girl, her summer has been focused on helping others. CBS 19's Amanda Roberson introduces us to 8-year-old Vanessa Hayward and explains how her gift is helping others facing terminal illness.
With every thread sewn, Vanessa Hayward hopes to bring a little more comfort to others. "Some kids, they can't do anything, they're just sick, they can't do anything."
That's why she's has spent her summer making "Buddy Babies" and "Pillow Buddies".
"I just thought it would be a good idea for kids to have something to play with if they're sad or lonely or bored," Vanessa explained. "They can can hug them, they can kiss them, they can do anything they want with them."
"We have given some of Vanessa's pillows to patients here at home place, our in-patient facility and they are a great comfort," explained Nancy Lamar with Hospice of East Texas.
Lamar said Vanessa first came to the center with the pillows, and her vision, three weeks ago. "End of life can be a very stressful time for patients especially, but also for their families, so we often say it's the small things that bring the greatest comfort and certainly one of Vanessa's pillows would be small thing that brought great comfort."
Vanessa has made more than 60 pillows and works through donations. Every dollar raised goes back to pillows for hospice patients.
"To be at such a young age and to really be thinking about other people is extraordinary to begin with and then to be thinking about people who are sick and sad and lonely is really yet another gift," Lamar added.
For Vanessa, it's about being comfort to the sick. "You just don't feel like doing anything so you can just lay in bed and put one of these."
It's one pillow buddy, made by one caring girl, to bring priceless comfort.
The eyes and lips are hand stitched on all of Vanessa's pillow buddies. She has also written a book about the pillow buddies and started a Facebook page.
