For her 10th birthday, Brylee Binger knew she needed to do something special.
After spendingΒ her entire life receiving treatment at Tucson Medical Center Pediatric Therapy, Brylee wanted to give back in a big way.
With help from the community, Brylee and her family donated 91 new toys for the patients at the pediatric therapy center on Wednesday, bringing some Christmas cheer to TMC.
βWe posted on Facebook: somethingβs coming soon,β Brylee said. βThey were all wondering if we were going to have a baby, adopt, all that stuff, but no, we decided to do this and itβs just really fun.β
Shari Binger, Bryleeβs mother, said sheΒ has always been a very sweet, loving and generous girl. When she was a baby, she suffered a stroke and developed hemiplegic cerebral palsy, making her left side of her body weak.
Despite only being a baby, Brylee said she remembers being really nervous the first day she went to the pediatric therapy center.
Now, Brylee goes to the pediatric therapy center every other week.
Charlene Fregosi, a pediatric physical therapist at TMC, has known Brylee since she was a baby. She has helped her with everything from working on holding her head up to sitting, crawling and walking.
βFor each one of those milestones, her parents, her sister and all of us were cheering her on,β Fregosi said. βWe didnβt know what the end was, but we were going to shoot for the stars, and look at her now.β
After going live on Facebook, Brylee started receiving donations from a handpicked list of toys specifically targeted to help patients at the pediatric therapy center. Out of a list of 100, Brylee received 91 toys.
βAs parents, we were very excited and very humbled that our daughter would think about giving back to others,β Binger said. βAll of these things are toys and tools that are going to help other kids at TMC. We're just one family that has been helped in the last 10 years, there's thousands and thousands of others and this is just going to help.β
When Brylee told Fregosi about her big birthday plan, Fregosi couldnβt help but shed some tears.
βShe takes everything in that has been given to her and turns it into something better,β Fregosi said. βShe is going to do something in this world.β
On Wednesday, Brylee and her little sister Tatum excitedly opened multiple Amazon packages of toys, ready to be used by other patients just like Brylee. The toys ranged from board games to baby dolls.
As other pediatric therapists watched the unboxing, Brylee greeted each of them with a big hug.
βWeβre just a really grateful family,β Brylee said. βTo all my family, all my friends, my loving sister and the therapists: thank you.β