Jordan Wakefield may be gone, but he is anything but forgotten.
When the Sheboygan, Wisconsin father passed away, he left behind a six-year-old daughter named Kyleigh Brunette who still remembers their time together like it was yesterday. It’s been two years, but Kyleigh still thinks of him tucking her in at night, taking her to school, and telling silly jokes to make her laugh.
Kyleigh’s mother, Brittany Brunette-Thimmesch, confirms that Kyleigh and Jordan shared a special bond.
“He adored Kyleigh,” Brittany said. “She’s an avid soccer player and he was at every single game. Jordan loved her with everything he had.”
Sadly, his family’s love was no match for Jordan’s mental illness, which caused him to take his own life in 2019. Brittany never told Kyleigh how her father had died, but a recent incident at school lead to some difficult questions from the now-8-year-old girl. On the advice of a therapist, Brittany gently told her daughter that Jordan’s illness didn’t show on the outside even though he was suffering on the inside.
The following summer, Kyleigh announced that she wanted to hold a lemonade stand and donate any money raised to charity. Brittany was surprised when Kyleigh told her where she wanted the money to go.
“She said, ‘No. I want to donate the funds to someone that needs the kind of help my dad needed,'” Brittany recalled.
“I wanted to raise money in honor of my dad so that no other kid would have to go through losing a parent,” Kyleigh explained.
Over the next few weekends, Kyleigh and her little sister manned a lemonade stand in their neighborhood that netted $800!
With cash in hand, Brittany brought the girls to a local nonprofit mental health center called Mental Health America Lakeshore, and Kyleigh presented them with the donation.
Kyleigh is only 8 years old, but she has already found a way to turn her personal tragedy into a way to help others. We love her heart!
Share this story to thank this little girl for helping others.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.
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