DALLAS — This content is sponsored by Sam Pack Auto Group.
Helen Brown died in 1993.
She left a grieving husband, a 13-year-old daughter named Molly, and a 6-month-old son named Ryan.
“Right before mom passed, she’d asked me to promise that if anything happened to her to look out for my brother,” said Molly.
She’s kept that promise almost 30 years.
Molly helped raised Ryan, hosting birthday parties and always ensuring he had the perfect personalized birthday cake.
He was her shadow.
And she was his surrogate mom.
They’ve remained close for decades, through moves to different states and while enduring additional loss and struggle – financial, physical, and emotional – especially in 2021.
Molly was in a car accident that caused serious back and knee problems.
She had surgery but maxed out on the physical therapy her insurance would cover before she regained full mobility.
As she was trying to recover, she and Ryan were having trouble convincing their father to get a COVID vaccine.
He was influenced by misinformation on social media, Molly said.
He finally agreed to schedule a shot, but he began feeling sick the day before his appointment.
RELATED: Her husband and mother died within weeks of each other. Now she is being granted a Little Wish.
Within hours of being diagnosed with COVID, Steve Brown was gone.
He’d been a widow for 28 years, but Brown was still wearing his wedding ring when he died.
Ryan said their father’s dying wish was to be buried next to his wife.
Molly promised she would make it happen and promised she’d also find a way to purchase a double headstone honoring the two of them.
Brown had no funeral or burial insurance, so Molly used up her own savings to pay to have their father buried.
They are still raising money for the headstone through a GoFundMe account.
Molly turned her pain into a platform. Days after her father’s death, she agreed to interviews in her father’s home state of Kentucky to try to convince more people to get vaccinated.
Just weeks after burying their father, Ryan nominated Molly for a Little Wish.
“Your Little Wish from Sam Pack Auto Group includes a mattress and bed, new tires for your vehicle, a gift card to a salon so you can get your hair done, and Sam Pack will cover the cost of physical therapy sessions through the end of the year,” Ryan told his sister when he revealed the surprise.
Ryan said he nominated Molly, “for helping people, raising awareness, and helping get people vaccinated.”
Molly was touched.
“It always amazes me just how much he’s just like our mom,” she said.