One year after Kristi and Neil Hayden lost their infant daughter Jordan to Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome in 2012, the couple made the decision to turn their grief into service. For the last five years, the Haydens, along with the Daviess County Public Schools community, have held a toy drive for the children at Norton Children’s Hospital in Louisville.
On Monday, Neil, Daviess County High School’s head basketball coach, along with five DCHS basketball players and another coach, made the two-hour drive to Louisville in two separate vans.
“This was our largest amount of toys that we’ve brought,” Neil said. “We had to take two vans, because it [his van] was full from top to bottom with toys.”
Neil and Kristi spent the four most trying months of their lives at Norton Children’s by Jordan’s side. Their daughter Riley, now 9, was almost 3 years old at the time and was often entertained by a group of individuals from Norton’s Hearts to Hands Care Team.
“They were there to love on families,” Neil said. “They would come get Riley. She was almost 3, and they provided a distraction.”
Over the course of those next four months, Neil said he and Kristi built a relationship with the Hearts for Hands team.
“They just serve with a genuine heart,” Neil said. “We just felt that was such a ministry to us.”
Neil, Kristi and the boys’ basketball team have taken on the mission of returning the favor and serving the Care Team’s needs. The donated toys are used to help entertain the children at the hospital, as well as their siblings at an often dark and difficult time in their lives.
“When we got there today, their shelves were bare; they’ve gone through all of the toys,” Neil said. “They marked it on their calendars when we were coming.”
Neil said that his family continues to visit the hospital on holidays such as Easter, Father’s Day and the Fourth of July. But he truly enjoys making the trip with the boys on the basketball team, as they have become a part of the mission too, especially the seniors who have made the trip all four years.
“When we lost Jordan, we believed everything happened for a reason,” Neil said. “We were given this situation, and we asked what is something we could do to serve other people?”
