Braelyn was only 2 years old when the crash left her trembling with fear.
Her mother, pregnant and with her hands occupied trying to calm her, couldn’t get her to stop crying while the emergency crews worked around them. That’s when firefighters Kevin Lloyd and Allen Hadley noticed something small that the girl was holding tightly: bottles of nail polish.
They didn’t hesitate. They asked her if she wanted to paint their nails, and Braelyn said yes without thinking twice. Within minutes, two men in helmets and rescue uniforms had pink and purple nails, and a girl who had been crying moments earlier was now smiling as if the scare had never happened. The scene went viral, not because of what they put out, but because of what they knew how to hold.