SAN ANTONIO — One little girl is singing her way into the hearts of millions. Lyric Kolodejcak was caught on video belting out the words to an Elvis Presley hit with her mom’s boyfriend, Michael Carey. Carey submitted the video to the World’s Greatest Videos and won $3,000 in the monthly contest.
But the video tells so much more than meets the eye.
Lyric was born with Down syndrome. Tabatha O’Connor said her daughter has grown up with music, but in the last year, she’s learned to match the pitch of different tunes, and articulate the words and phrases of songs. Now, the five-year-old girl’s singing has captured the hearts of people across the globe.
The video, entitled “Down Syndrome Abilities,” has received millions of views, according to Makayla Allen, the president of the San Antonio-based World’s Greatest Videos.
The candid video shows how much people across the world have been touched by Lyric’s singing.
“One of the things about being a musician is touching people,” Carey said. “It’s incredible that it’s just been important to so many people.”
O’Connor said her daughter has helped her keep a positive outlook during her fight with cancer. “I was diagnosed in 2016, and found a lime-sized tumor in my colon,” she said.
She said it was stage four cancer, and she had to have multiple surgeries and rounds of chemo and radiation to fight the disease.
And, throughout it all, Lyric was her sunshine, always smiling.
“I think happiness is a cancer killer, very literally,” O’Connor said. She said after her last round of chemo, she is in the clear and hopes to be declared in remission in the next few months.
“Emotionally and physically, she’s healing, because your state of mind when you’re going through something like this can make a big difference,” said O’Connor. “She’s just my number one, and the reason I’m here, I believe.”
The couple said Lyric hasn’t had any formal music training, but has grown up with music.
“She’s singing all the time,” Carey said. “She knows how to change pitch pretty well. She’ll even sing along with the pitch of the vacuum cleaner.”
Because a song can always warm your heart, but the lyrics have the power to heal the soul.
“She’s the reason that all the stuff we’re going through is livable,” O’Connor said.
Allen said the viral video is up for the grand prize of $1 million. Voting begins December 1 on the World’s Greatest Videos website.
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