Our Story

Hello, I’m Susan Downing, creator of the Bradykin children’s book series and founder of the Bradykin Children’s Foundation. For more than 12 years, my family and I have been writing Bradykin stories together, joyful adventures inspired by our beloved Coton de Tulear and by the values that have always mattered most to us: kindness, family, connection, giving back, simpler times, and the magic of imagination.

But the heart behind the Bradykin Children’s Foundation began long before the Foundation had a name. It began in a hospital room with my two-month-old daughter, Megan.

Megan had been diagnosed with viral meningitis and was having seizures. One night, the medical team was struggling to get an IV into her tiny veins. Eventually, they had to place the IV in her head. I was terrified. I remember looking at my baby and praying to God, “Please let Megan live. If she does, I promise I will give back. I will help other children and families going through this.”

It was a promise I never forgot.

That same night, after Megan’s IV was finally in place, a nurse quietly handed me a beautiful handmade quilt. I never knew who made it. Somewhere, someone had taken the time to create something for a child and family they would probably never meet. They did not know Megan. They did not know me. They simply wanted a frightened family to know that someone cared. 

In one of the most frightening moments of my life, that quilt became my beacon of hope.

People also donated toys and activities for Megan’s big brother, Matthew, who was still a little boy himself. Over the years, as Megan spent time in and out of hospitals, there were more moments like that. A toy. A blanket. An activity. A thoughtful gesture from a stranger. They may have seemed small to the people giving them, but to us, they were anything but small.

Those acts of kindness brought comfort on days filled with fear. They gave our children something happy to focus on when life felt anything but normal. Most importantly, they reminded us that we were not alone.

I carried those memories, and the promise I made to God that night, with me for years. Today, that promise has become the Bradykin Children’s Foundation.

And Megan, the tiny baby I once prayed would survive, is now grown and working as a preschool teacher, spending her days caring for, encouraging, and inspiring young children. Her story has come full circle in a way I could never have imagined during those frightening nights in the hospital. Today, she is also part of the Bradykin Children’s Foundation, helping our family give other children the same comfort, kindness, and hope that once meant so much to us. 

Our mission is to bring comfort, hope, literacy, and moments of joy to children during difficult hospital stays through Bradykin Bags filled with our family written books, a cuddly Bradykin plush, coloring activities, crayons, and heartfelt Notes of Hope. We partner with hospitals and pediatric programs throughout Massachusetts to help children and families feel supported during challenging times. 

Every part of a Bradykin Bag has a purpose. A book can transport a child from a hospital room into an adventure. A plush can become something soft and familiar to hold when they are frightened. Coloring pages and activities can provide a few precious moments of normal childhood when a child may not be able to leave their room to play. And a handwritten Note of Hope from someone they may never meet can remind a child and family of something our own family once desperately needed to hear: you are not alone.

Bradykin himself was a cherished member of our family, playful, loving, and full of personality. Although he has since passed, his joyful spirit lives on through every story we write and every child we reach. The little dog who brought so much happiness to our family now carries that happiness into hospital rooms throughout Massachusetts.

From the very beginning, Bradykin has been about more than books. It is about giving a child a reason to smile when there may not be much to smile about. It is about giving a parent a moment to watch their child laugh, read, color, or hug a new little friend instead of thinking about the next procedure, test, or treatment. It is about reminding families that even in their most difficult moments, people they have never met are thinking about them and rooting for them.

We understand hospital life because we have lived it. We understand what it feels like to sit beside your child in the middle of the night and wish you could take away their fear. We understand how helpless a parent can feel when all you want to do is make your child better and you cannot. And we understand how something as simple as a handmade quilt can become a symbol of hope that stays in your heart for the rest of your life.

More than two decades ago, in one of the most frightening moments of my life, I made God a promise: if Megan lived, I would find a way to help other children and families.

Megan lived. She grew up. She became a preschool teacher. And today, our family is keeping that promise.

Through every Bradykin Bag we deliver, every book we give, every child who hugs a Bradykin plush, and every parent who realizes that someone cares, that promise continues. What once came to our family as a handmade quilt from a stranger now goes forward as books, comfort, imagination, encouragement, and hope for another child.

Every Bradykin Bag is made possible by families, volunteers, donors, sponsors, hospitals, and caring people who believe that kindness matters, especially when a child needs it most. Someone once made a quilt for my baby without ever knowing how profoundly it would affect our family. Today, we may never know the full impact of the Bradykin Bag we place into another child’s hands, but we know what it feels like to be the family receiving it.

That is why we will keep giving.

Together, we can turn someone else’s frightening hospital day into a moment filled with comfort, imagination, kindness, and hope. Because every child deserves to feel seen, every family deserves to feel supported, and no family should ever feel alone during one of the hardest moments of their lives.

#BradykinMoves
Brightening Hospital Stays, One Story at a Time.