05/11/2026
Have you heard of David Begnaud? He is a great journalist that tells the good stories. He shared my story on his page.
https://l.gotourl.es/l/44d53e904b13240c6e6660f37028bee3bea686a6?u=13347422
Tonight I want to tell you about Pat.
Pat spent Mother's Day today without her children.
She lost her daughter Dana in 2018. She lost her son Kenny in February 2025.
Both of them lost their battle with mental illness.
She didn't tell me this to be sad. She told me because I asked.
When you sign up for the Do Good Crew newsletter, I ask everyone the same question: what do you feel is the best way people can do something good for others? That's how Pat and I started talking. And once we started, she shared everything.
She told me that since Kenny died, "my life has been a grey world." (To Join our newsletter comment Subscribe and I'll message you instructions on how to sign up.)
She told me that "it still doesn't feel right that they are gone."
After Dana died, Pat and Kenny made a decision together. "We needed to be the best people we could be to honor her life." So they started a nonprofit. Dana's Sweet Wishes. They donate books on mental wellness to first graders. They bake birthday cookies for seniors in a care facility. Pat volunteers there every week with her husband Hank.
When Kenny died this February, Pat didn't stop.
She sees a therapist every month. She goes to a grief group every month. And she is renaming the charity Cardinals of Love — so both of her children live in that work, together.
"Now I want to honor both of them by moving forward the best I can."
She wrote to me today — on Mother's Day — and it hit me right in the heart. It reminded me that there are mothers out there who celebrated today alone.
Pat is one of them. And she is still out here doing good.
She ended her note to me by saying, "answering your email has been a great emotional exercise for me."
That's Pat.
