Quincy couple creates ‘Smiles from Myles’ toy program to help hospitalized children while remembering their son

QUINCY — Out of difficulties grow miracles.

That quote from French philosopher Jean de la Bruyere might best sum up the creation of Smiles from Myles, a local program that donates new toys to patients for local hospitals and clinics.

Doctors in early fall of 2020 diagnosed Courtney and Brandon Grant’s son, Myles, with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), a rare disease that usually occurs in infants and young children. A person’s immune system doesn’t work normally if they have HLH. Certain white blood cells attack your other blood cells. These abnormal blood cells collect in your spleen and liver, causing these organs to enlarge.

When they were at St. Louis Children’s Hospital with Myles, the Grants received a gift of a mobile that hung above him as he laid in his crib. 

“It gave him something he could pay attention to,” Courtney said.

Myles died on Oct. 13, 2020. He was six months old.

As the Grants grieved the loss of their son, they never forgot that mobile.

“It had a little sticker on it that said it was donated in the memory of another young boy,” Brandon said. “It kind of stuck to us that a family donated this to bring happiness to a kid who is literally stuck in a PICU (pediatric intensive care unit) bed who can’t really do anything.”

“All the donations we received for Myles were very nice and very sweet, but that mobile, for some reason, just stuck out,” Courtney said. “It rang a bell. We both looked at each other one night, and we’re thinking we need to do something. I can’t not do something. So we kind of took that idea and ran with it.”

Three months after their son died, the Grants created Smiles from Myles, which also creates “smile boxes” for children (and even their siblings) who will be in hospitals for an extended stay.

“(The program) definitely helped with the grieving process for sure,” Courtney said. “It helped our oldest (Riley, 9). Just kind of know the purpose of it. He was like, ‘Why did Myles die? What happened?’ It’s helped us as a family to share it.”

“It’s just keeping his smile alive in our eyes,” Brandon said. “We’re passing on what we loved about him. I mean, we loved him a million things about him, but one thing everybody said they loved were his chubby cheeks and his smile. That kid just would not stop smiling.”

The pandemic forced the Grants to have a drive-thru event last year for people to donate new toys. This year’s event will be from 1 to 4 p.m. April 10 at the Knights of Columbus, 700 S. 36th. It will offer a bounce house, kiddie games with prizes, monster truck and an appearance by the Easter bunny.

Smiles from Myles only accepts new toys. 

“Myles had a bone marrow transplant (at Children’s Hospital), and anybody who is in the bone marrow unit can’t have used toys,” Courtney said. “Your immune system is so weak that they don’t want to take any chances of passing anything on.”

However, the toys can be given to any child up to age 17 in the pediatric units at any of the hospitals or clinics that Smiles from Myles works with.

“Whether they have to go give blood or they have to get a shot or they have to just go to the doctors because they have tubes, they’re going to have to continue to go to the doctors quite a bit,” Courtney said. “Even if you’re getting stitches through a walk-in clinic, we want you to get something. The whole idea is to bring smiles to kids, if you’re really sick or if you just have a boo-boo.”

The Grants both work for Blessing Hospital. Courtney is a purchasing buyer, and Brandon works in the hospital’s construction department. 

They hope to expand their giving base this year to healthcare facilities in Pike and Brown counties, as well as southeast Iowa. They also send “smile boxes” to families they’ve found on Facebook who have a child in a hospital. The Grants recently became vice presidents of the St. Louis-based HLH Heroes Foundation.

Last year’s toy drive filled the basement in the Grants’ home. They now have warehouse space to handle what they hope to receive this year.

“Sorting the toys takes the most time,” Brandon said with a grin.

“The doctors get super excited when they see us,” Courtney said. “They say they get picked on because they poke and prod and check their ears and make the kids cry. Now they have something besides stickers that the kids can pick from. Some kids pick Nerf guns, because who doesn’t love to walk around and shoot the nurses?”

Smiles from Myles has helped the Grants meet families spending hours in hospitals with their kids.

“We’ve gotten attached to a lot of kids we never would have even met or even known about,” Courtney said. “This has touched us a lot. We have kept on wanting to do this because we wanted to keep (Myles) alive. This keeps him with us as much as possible. Yes, we are busy, and we do hope that it will grow. We just want to help as many kids as possible.”