SUFFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — A Suffolk mother and daughter duo are on a mission to give local hospitalized kids comfort by donating handmade pillows.  

Kerri Murawski and her daughter DeLainee are hoping to make and give out 100 pillows to kids at the Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters by the end of October for Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Month.   

“She’s cut about 100 pillows already,” Kerri Murawski said. “We’ve only put together, I want to say, about 25 so far. So, we have a couple more weeks, but we only have 75 to go.” 

It’s a cause that’s close to the heart for the pair because when DeLainee was four, she went into cardiac arrest while she was in their front yard.  

Kerri performed CPR, and DeLainee was taken to the hospital, where she ended up spending the next 30 days. 

“She has catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia, CPVT. It’s a really rare heart condition that’s provoked by adrenaline, excitement over, exhaustion, exercise, stress, pretty much anything,” Kerri Murawski said.  

DeLainee’s condition has led to multiple hospital visits and surgeries over the years, but it left Kerri with the idea to make a pillow small enough to fit in a car seat.  

“They told her to put a pillow in between my car seat and my incision, and she said that she could sew. So, she came home and made a pillow, because a big old pillow that would go on your bed was too big. So, she made little pillows, and then it started from there,” DeLainee said.  

A couple of years later, ‘Pillows 4 Patients’ was eventually born, aiming to give comfort to other hospitalized children.

“When you’re in the hospital, they give you toys and books and blankets. And I said, nobody gives you a pillow, you know, what a great idea,” Kerri Murawski said.  

Over the years, the two have made and donated pillows to children in hospitals across three different states, but the last time they did was before the pandemic. 

“[Kids] enjoy it because it makes them feel more at home instead of being in a scary place,” DeLainee said.

Kerri Murawski added that, since they just moved to Suffolk this year, they’re hoping to spread a little comfort across Hampton Roads by donating a new round of pillows to CHKD.  

It’s also a way to help raise awareness about sudden cardiac arrest, an issue the Murawski family is familiar with.  

“This was a good outlet for her to do something for people,” Kerri Murawski said. “So I think she I think she really enjoys it. It helps her too.”

If you would like to help their cause, you can reach out to Kerri Murawski at kerriskweens@gmail.com to give them supplies or donate to their GoFundMe here.