Feel Good Friday: Little ‘Superhero’ Lainey honored at WKU game

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WNKY) – The crowd inside E.A. Diddle Arena paused from the action on the court for a different kind of hero.

Not a basketball player – but a playful 1-year-old.

Lainey Brennan, a joyful toddler from Bowling Green, was honored during a recent Western Kentucky University basketball game, drawing cheers from the crowd as she was recognized for overcoming a serious heart condition early in life.

Her parents say the energy the crowd saw that night is exactly who she is every day.

“She’s playful. Energetic. Very kind. She enjoys other people,” said her father, Jonathan Brennan. “Yeah, resilient. Very resilient.”

Lainey was born with Trisomy 21, also known as Down syndrome, and a congenital heart defect called an atrioventricular canal defect, a condition in which the center of the heart does not form properly.

The defect creates a large opening between the heart’s chambers and affects the valves that control blood flow. Without treatment, it can make it difficult for the heart and lungs to function normally.

Dr. Lucinda Thurman, a pediatric cardiologist with Norton Children’s Heart Institute in Louisville, said the condition typically requires surgery early in life.

“She was born with a complicated heart defect where the middle part of her heart between the upper and lower chambers was deficient of tissue, basically a large hole between the chambers of the heart,” Thurman said.

Lainey underwent open-heart surgery when she was just five weeks old.

Her mother, Madeline Brennan, said the weeks after Lainey’s birth were overwhelming as the family learned about the specialists, therapies and care she would need.

“It felt like drinking out of a firehose,” she said. “It felt overwhelming, but the physicians and therapists that we would meet really helped calm a lot of that stress.”

Despite the challenges, her parents say Lainey has faced everything with a smile.

“She’s had a lot of different challenges,” Madeline Brennan said. “But at the same time, I feel like she’s handled them better than we as adults handle them, and she’s always had a smile on her face.”

During the recognition at the WKU game, the Brennans were joined by family members, friends and members of Lainey’s medical team, a moment Jonathan Brennan said helped them reflect on the journey so far.

“For us to remember the difficult amount of times, but then also to see all the people who have played a role in her getting to the point that she’s at today, that’s been cool for sure,” he said.

Lainey and her family will also be featured at Western Kentucky University’s Dance Big Red event on Friday, a student-led fundraiser supporting children and families facing medical challenges.

For Bailey Harper, a family relations co-chair with the organization, meeting families like the Brennans highlights the impact of the program.

“We get to see exactly where the money we raise goes, the families it affects,” Harper said. “We see a direct impact there when we get to connect with these families.”

For the Brennans, the recognition at center court was about more than a moment in the spotlight.

It was a celebration of the little girl whose strength, and joyful spirit, continues to inspire the people around her.