Brady Effect

By DOUG DONNELLY

Advance Editor

Kaley Kaylor says she never met anyone more physically fit than her brother, Brady Donnelly.

That’s one of the things that made Brady dying in a drowning accident a year ago so tragic.

“He was training for a triathlon,” Kaylor said. “It was his first open water swim at the Pit in Tecumseh. He got three quarters of the way across and realized he couldn’t finish it.”

Donnelly’s death prompted his friends and family to launch an initiative to put more life preserves near waterways. Last month, the Village of Blissfield was the recipient of two such preservers, which are now hanging on a pole near the River Raisin. Two more are planned for installation next year.

“After that accident, our family was like, ‘We need to have life preservers everywhere,’” Kaylor said.

Donnelly is a native of Kenton, Ohio. He and his girlfriend graduated from college in Youngstown, Ohio, and were working in Ann Arbor. He was pursuing a master’s degree and worked with children with autism. The couple settled into a place in Petersburg and he started training for the triathlon.

“He was only a couple of weeks away from proposing to his girlfriend,” Kaylor said. “I call her his fiancé. He already had the ring and she wears it to this day.”

The organization, known as The Brade Effect, combines Donnelly’s tragic death and what he loved doing – helping children. The ultimate goal of the non-profit organization is to make water more safe and accessible. 

“We took both his tragedy and what he was doing and combined the two,” Kaylor said. “We are trying to make water safer for children living on the spectrum.”

Right now, the organization raises money, purchases and installs life preservers. They had a goal of 10 but raised enough money to buy 18. All 18 of them have been placed, including two along the River Raisin in Blissfield. They’ve also installed preservers in Adrian, Clinton and Tecumseh. 

Later, the family intends to offer CPR classes for parents who have autistic children and swim lessons.

“The easiest and quickest way we could make an impact was to get life preservers out there,” she said.

The drowning occurred on Sept. 15, 2024. 

The Brady Effect organization reached out to about 50 communities about installing the preservers, including Blissfield, which reacted positively to the donation request. 

“We’ve had nothing but positive feedback,” Kaylor said. “Getting people to say yes to accepting them is sometimes a challenge. Blissfield was so nice and positive about them. As soon as we get more, they’ll be the first ones on our contact list.”