Last year’s holidays were hard for Lauren Doyle, a 22-year-old from Hartlepool, County Durham. Her grandmother, Barbara Kinnell, passed away two days after Christmas, and shortly after, Lauren found herself battling sepsis caused by surgery complications.
Because everything happened so quickly, Lauren barely had a chance to grieve her Nan. That’s when Carlita Pounder, a friend of 19 years, decided to help her in a very special way.
Three weeks prior to Barbara’s death, the 73-year-old had left Lauren a short voicemail.
“Hiya Lauren, it’s only Nana. Just calling to see if you’re OK, pet. I’ll give you a ring later on. Ta-ta love. Love you, bye.”
At the time, Lauren didn’t think much of the message. But, when Barbara passed away three weeks later from cardiac arrest brought on by bronchitis and pneumonia, the short recording soon became a sentimental reminder.
When Lauren came upon the recording after her Nan’s death, she shared it with her friend Carlita who came up with a brilliant plan.
The very next day, Carlita went to Build-A-Bear workshop, where she created a personalized, grandma teddy bear for her grieving best friend.
“I explained everything to her [the employee],” Carlita told Mirror UK. “She was so lovely and helpful. She turned the store music down and even asked the children in the shop to be quiet while she recorded it.”
“The space on the bear’s recording was the exact number of seconds the voicemail was. I was crying in the shop while getting it made”
Carlita decided to film Lauren’s reaction to the surprise in a recording that has since gone viral.
In the video, Carlita presents a gift bag to the unassuming Lauren.
“I had no idea what was going on,” said Lauren. “Once I saw the box, I knew it was from Build-A-Bear as it’s so distinctive but other than that I had no idea.”
Carlita tells Lauren to look at the bear’s name— when Lauren sees “Babbylicious”, the name she used to call her grandmother, she’s immediately in shock.
“She told me to look at the certificate which said the bear had been called Babbylicious— the nickname I gave my nana.”
“Then I saw the bear was dressed all in red— a red dress, red shoes, and even red knickers— my nana’s favorite color.”
With Carlita’s encouragement, when Lauren presses the teddy bear’s hand and hears her nana’s voice, she completely breaks down.
“When she said to press its hand, I wondered what the hell she was on about, but as soon as I did, I knew straight away it was my nana’s voice,” Lauren recalled.
“I was really emotional, I didn’t know what to do or say.”
“I was happy crying listening to it. I hadn’t had time to acknowledge my nana dying, I hadn’t started to grieve, and that just pushed me over the edge.”
Since being uploaded online, the video of the surprise has gone viral.
“People’s comments have been amazing,” Carlita revealed. “I’ve had people coming up to me in the street saying how beautiful the video is and how it made them cry watching it.”
People are touched by Carlita’s thoughtful gesture. It seems to resonate with everybody who’s lost someone they love. Comments on the video read:
“It’s been more than 30 years since I lost my grandmother, yet it still hurts. This video touched my heart and soul so much.”
“Made me get tears, thinking of my dad, aunt and others. I think I need to record my mom’s voice. I have her saved on my phone, but this would be nice to have her saying good things.”
“I would love to have my grandma’s voice that’s so special”
“I admit that some tears came out of my eyes… wow”
See it for yourself below!
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