CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – On May 18, 2024, the unthinkable happened to Brandon Lynch’s family.
“He was at a family pool and he was swimming with his cousins, went back inside and he snuck back out of door,” Lynch said. “Obviously, as a three year old [he] didn’t have the ability and didn’t realize that the life jacket did what it did.”
Lynch said he was four hours away at the time.
“Unfortunately, I only made it 45 minutes and I got a phone call from a doctor,” Lynch said. “It was hard. I mean, I passed out. I got sick. I felt everything, my whole world being yanked out from underneath me. And like I said, my purpose was gone.”
Lynch said he worked to transform his grief into action, first starting a memorial fund for his son, Kaden, and a month later, a nonprofit.
“My buddy looks at me and he goes, yeah, we should call it Kaden’s Kids. And it stuck,” Lynch said.
He said the nonprofit became his purpose — and focused it on pool safety. He started organizing its first event, “Touch a Truck” in Dubuque in October.
The event grew more than he expected — and he quickly realized there were dozens of other parents with similar stories to his own.
“We completely changed our whole role to not just pool safety, but child safety in general,” Lynch said. “And now it’s child safety and support.”
After seeing a need, Lynch started a virtual support group for parents who’ve lost a child.
“It is a dark place to be if you choose for it to be dark,” Lynch said. “It is a big light when you have those other people that you can connect to and relate to.”
He said this community and his nonprofit have helped him get through the good and bad days.
“Kaden was my only, so now all of Kaden’s kids are my kids,” Lynch said. “It has helped a lot.”
He said it meant a lot to him to see the kids at his nonprofit’s first event bright and energetic just like Kaden was.
“It hits me and it takes me back, but that’s because I get to see my son’s memory change other kids lives. And there’s nothing better than at Touch a Truck to hear all those horns and you turn around and the smiles and the kids and just the horns, I still hear them. It’s crazy.”
If you want to get involved or support Kaden’s Kids, you can go to their website at by clicking this link.
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