"Celebrating her life, and trying to help others:" Focus of Bowling for Brynn event




MUSKEGO--The state of Wisconsin is known for having a lot of bowling alleys and the people that live here are also known for having a lot of heart and it's the combination of both that worked together to help one family.

Cheers, applause, and laughter filled the air on a day spent honoring the life of a special little girl.

A diagnosis forever changed the lives of Sean and Christina Moritz and their daughter Brynn.

"She was born on the 23rd, had a condition called a hypo plastic left heart syndrome.  Unfortunately because of her condition she ended up going through some pretty complicated surgeries. We ended up losing her in April of 2011 in what was effectively her second stage of what was gonna be a 3 or 4 stage process," said Sean Moritz.

"We were obviously heartbroken over the whole thing but we had learned a lot about what Children's Heart Foundation was and a lot of work they were doing as far as driving research and development. Medical care, and just overall education around this. We were blindsided by it ourselves."

But an immeasurable loss, inspired a life long friend. 



"Well Sean's my best friend in the world. He's more like a brother to me than a friend so you know with his, to help his family, to see the joy they get out of celebrating Brynn's life, that's what we're really doing, celebrating her life, and trying to help others. It's like seeing my extended family happy at an event like this and a day that we can really truly celebrate her is huge for us," said Dave Dean.



As General Manager of the Bucks new G-League team, The Wisconsin Herd, Dean got the Bucks on board and put together a fundraiser benefiting the Children's Heart Foundation.

"I thought what could be more Milwaukee which is where Sean is from, than bowling. Of course the Bucks, the best organization in the world to work for, Peter Feigin extremely generous, the Bucks have made a donation to this event today which was very very nice and we've had people within the Bucks organization sign up for the event, on their own, to come out and donate money."

And the generosity was overwhelming for the Moritz family.  



"I would say we kinda looked at Minneapolis and Milwaukee as kinda the two teams in our corner for the entire process. What I keep saying to my wife is, it's been several years that we're going on after losing Brynn and just the fact that we come down here and there's still this kind of a draw and this homecoming for us , its incredibly humbling and it kinda knocks me off my chair every time," said Moritz.

In their second year, Bowling for Brynn brought together friends, family, and even strangers.

"We drew a lot of inspiration from her. I don't even like having a cavity filled yet alone going in for a procedure but she was a tough little kid going through some major challenges in a short span here on earth so, We we were always kinda inspired and in awe of her in terms of her ability to bounce back as quickly as she did and really remain in good spirits for someone who really had no idea or control of what was going on or the cards she was dealt. Humbling for me, as her father for sure, and it's something that's really permeated throughout our support network and group of friends as well."

Making a difference, with plenty of heart.