Most days we don’t think twice about the sound of our loved ones’ voices.
But when our loved ones leave us, that sound could be the most precious thing on Earth.
That’s why 19-year-old Taylor McCormack was so overwhelmed by the Christmas present her sister gave her.
Her sister Maddie gave her a teddy bear that contained a voice recording of her friend Rodney Zinoro who passed away in May 2020 after drowning in a Manchester canal.
McCormack and Zinoro had been best friends for several years, which left McCormack devastated when he was gone.
“He was such a genuine person and he would literally light up a room as soon as he walked in. He was always there if you needed him. He was just like the best person ever,” McCormack said.
So when she heard his voice again after squeezing her Build-a-Bear’s hand, she was overjoyed.
“I was just shocked that someone would even do that. I was like ‘Oh my God, that is the most thoughtful gift anyone had ever given me,” McCormack said.
Not only was she taken aback by the act of kindness and love that went into the gift, but she knew that this gift would come in handy.
“The fact that his voice is in a teddy, it’s just so pure and I can hug it and listen to it when I’m sad so I think I was just happy,” McCormack said. “If I’m sad, I can just talk to it because it’s got his voice. It’s not him, but it’s him to me.”
Maddie recorded her sister as she opened her gift and McCormack posted the video on TikTok.
Maddie took the audio from a saved video and transferred it to the recording device in the bear.
As soon as McCormack heard the sound of her friend, she broke down in tears.
McCormack, who met Zinoro at Cecil Jones Academy in Southend-on-Sea according to Inside Edition, has had trouble coming to terms with the loss of her friend.
“I was a mess for ages, I still am to be fair. I would just think of him for a day and I’ll just start crying as the emotions just wouldn’t stop.”
“I just broke down, I couldn’t breathe. I [was thinking] ‘This isn’t true, he was one of the best people in the world, why has he been taken so soon? I made myself believe that it wasn’t real. The feeling was just so heavy on your chest, it’s like ‘No way this is real, I’m dreaming.’ I just couldn’t stop crying.”
While the Christmas present won’t bring her friend back, it will help ease the pain of his loss.
“This shows that no one is truly dead when their voice, face, and ideas of the future has been preserved, the best way to live on is to be with your BEST friend till the end, even if it means to be a fluffy teddy bear, that is the best gift a sibling could ever give,” wrote one commenter on YouTube.
McCormack’s story ended up going viral.
It was picked up by publications in England and the U.S.
Check out the story covered by Inside Edition in the video below.
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