Valencia resident Brooklyn Hernandez, 12, was born with a non-cancerous tumor on her lung and when she was 6 months old, she had to get her lung removed – causing medical complications for the rest of her life.
But she has never let her health get in the way of helping others.
Brooklyn’s mother, Tiffany, said their motto is “Be the Good,” because it helps embrace the fact that there are many people in the world who want to be good people and find where they can make a difference.
“And a lot of them just don’t know what steps to take or where the need is. And so, I kind of feel like we’re just kind of like liaisons. We don’t, we’re not the ones financially supporting every cause. We’re just the ones finding the situations and bringing people together and saying, ‘This is how you can help,’” Tiffany said.
Tiffany said that, over the years, she and Brooklyn have done toy drives, written cards for patients, held Play-Doh drives, and even collected Band-Aids for children at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
“When you go to the hospital and you get your pokes in your port or whatever, and they put this ugly brown Band-Aid on you, the impact that a silly little character Band-Aid that costs (10 or 15 cents) for someone to purchase makes such a difference,” Tiffany said. “Like, so it’s just kind of like finding the things that can make a difference and like collecting the people and saying, this is where you can help, or this is where you can help, or this is where there’s a need and like, just kind of puzzling things together.”
Lisa Soares, a collaborator and friend of Brooklyn and Tiffany, said what the duo does for the community is incredible.
Soares set up a GoFundMe for them to go to CureFest, an annual three-day gathering uniting families, advocates, researchers, and lawmakers to raise awareness, build community, and make childhood cancer a national priority, according to the website.
“One of my concerns for Tiffany and Brooklyn is that because their hearts are so loving, then they also tend to be really humble. And so, they’re not going to be the kind of people to go out there and make a big to do about needing help to get to CureFest,” Soares said.
To support Brooklyn and Tiffany, visit the GoFundMe at tinyurl.com/54bcepe9.
