GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Dozens of loved ones, doctors, nurses and hospital staff lined the halls of DeVos Children’s Hospital Saturday evening to honor a one-year-old who is saving lives, even after losing hers.
Kaiyanni was just weeks away from her second birthday, but she was pronounced legally dead Wednesday morning.
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Kaiyanni’s mother, Amanda O’Brien, chose to have her daughter’s organs donated.
“It was hard for me to walk away. I couldn’t. I told them to bring her back upstairs. I couldn’t do it. My legs gave out on me. I dropped beside with her. I really just want her back,” O’Brien told FOX 17 Saturday. “They were taking her heart and putting it into another child…so she may have left me today, but she’s living on through somebody else, so she’s not completely gone.”
Family, friends and community members released balloons outside of the hospital Saturday night, in Kaiyanni's honor. They also lit a row of candles and held a vigil.
O’Brien says she trusted someone close to her to watch Kaiyanni, but they betrayed her.
“I called the woman my sister and her boyfriend my brother,” she explained. “They’ve watched my kids previously, a number of times, and my kids loved them…I’m still trying to wrap my head around how this happened. I just, I really want to know why. Like, what? Like, were you frustrated? Were you mad? Like, what caused this?”
Police have not announced yet if they’ve made any arrests. FOX 17 reached out to GRPD for an update on the investigation, but we have not heard back.
If you’d like to donate to Kaiyanni’s family’s GoFundMe page, click here.
