“That time each day means everything to us. With so much uncertainty, they’ve given us something joyful to count on,” Brinley Wyczalek’s mom said

A 4-year-old girl, who has been hospitalized for more than 110 days as she awaits a heart transplant, has found hope in an unlikely place — just outside her hospital window.

Brinley Wyczalek befriended a group of Ohio construction workers, who every day around 3 p.m. local time, stand in an under-construction building across from her Cleveland Clinic Children’s hospital window to say hello by forming encouraging hearts with their hands and waving.

“We wanted her to know she has a whole crew behind her,” Devan Nail, a union carpenter with OCP Contractors, said in a news release shared by the hospital.

The workers have given Brinley a signed lime-green construction hard hat, a toy hammer, an oversized stuffed bear and coloring books.

The daily tradition began in January when Brinley’s father, Travis Wyczalek, shined a flashlight toward the construction site, which will eventually become Cleveland Clinic’s new Neurological Institute.

“To our surprise, someone flashed a light right back at us,” said Brinley’s mother, Berlyn Wyczalek.

Not knowing who was in the hospital room, the workers made a “Get Well Soon” sign and taped it to the construction site, to which the Wyczaleks responded with a sign reading, “Thank you. Waiting for a heart.”

The construction workers responded with another sign that said, “Praying for you & your family. Keep fighting! Love OCP.”

Dr. Shahnawaz Amdani, Brinley’s pediatric cardiologist, explained how “incredibly meaningful” this connection is for the girl’s health journey.

“Healing isn’t only physical. Emotional support and human connection matter deeply, especially for children,” Amdani said in the news release.

Brinley’s time at Cleveland Clinic Children’s began when she was admitted on Halloween 2025 due to a severely weakened heart caused by viruses.

A month later on Thanksgiving, she received a Berlin Heart, which the hospital described as “a ventricular assist device that helps pump blood through her body while she waits for a heart transplant.”

Until then, Brinley will continue to look forward to her daily ritual of interacting with her construction friends.

“That time each day means everything to us. With so much uncertainty, they’ve given us something joyful to count on,” the girl’s mom emphasized. “All of this started with a flashlight, and it’s shown us that even in the hardest moments, there is so much good.”

A GoFundMe, set up to support the family amid Brinley’s transplant journey, has so far raised more than $37,000 of the page’s $40,000 goal.

Source: https://people.com/girl-waiting-for-heart-transplant-gets-hope-from-construction-workers-11910135