![\"daddy](\"http:\/\/www.myheroesathome.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/daddy-doll.jpg\" "\\"daddy-doll\\"")
<\/a>Even with her father in Iraq, 2 1\/2-year-old Keirah Nelson wakes to his voice each morning.<\/p>\n“Keirah, this is Daddy,” Army Spect. Scott Nelson singsongs from a recording inside a cotton doll adorned with his picture. “I love you very much. Have a good day.”<\/p>\n
The custom-made Daddy Doll helps children like Keirah cope with the loss of a loved one away from home or never coming back.<\/p>\n
“It’s been a godsend,” said Keirah’s mother, Sarah, whose family is weathering her husband’s first deployment overseas.<\/p>\n
They didn’t know what to expect from Keirah and her 19-month-old brother, Kyler. One might suffer from separation anxiety; the other might not recognize his dad. To be able to click here<\/a> and get them some memorabilia wasn’t enough. So far, with dolls tucked beneath little arms each night, the siblings have been fine, their mom said.<\/p>\n The children’s day-care provider told Nelson about Operation Hug-A-Hero, a nonprofit that raises money to purchase Daddy Dolls (or Mommy Dolls) for people in need.<\/p>\n “We really reached out to the ones struggling the hardest,” said Executive Director Lisa Berg of Clearwater.<\/p>\n The dolls are co-designed by her friend, Tricia Dyal, a Marine wife based in Jacksonville, N.C. They cost $25 to $35, depending on size and extras – such as printing pictures on the doll’s back as well as the front, and recording his voice.<\/p>\n Photographs of loved ones can be uploaded and edited online. The machine-washable dolls are delivered in about four weeks.<\/p>\n “We’re in it for the kids,” said Berg, who served 16 years in the Air National Guard; her husband, Benjamin is in the Coast Guard. “They don’t know where Daddy is, just that he’s not around.”<\/p>\n Nelson’s children received two dolls around February. The plushy toys emblazoned with a full-length picture of their father were an immediate hit.<\/p>\n “Oh, my Daddy!” Keirah hollered.<\/p>\n A month later, Scott Nelson shipped out. Keirah took to carrying her Daddy Doll everywhere.<\/p>\n “She doesn’t like to leave without him,” Sarah Nelson said.<\/p>\n For more information about sponsoring a child or ordering a Daddy Doll, visit Operation Hug-A-Hero<\/a><\/p>\n