If you’ve been humming along to the hit song “10,000 Hours” by Dan + Shay and Justin Bieber, prepare to have it stuck in your head for days. A heartwarming video recently released by Arkansas parent Nicole Powell has gone viral, showing her 6-year-old son, Rayce, tenderly singing the song to his baby brother, Tripp, who was born with Down syndrome and spent the first few weeks of his life in the neonatal intensive care unit.
Powell said, “From the moment [Tripp] was born, Rayce was like, ‘Hand me the baby.’ Each day after school, he would just talk and talk to Tripp, informing the baby all about his day. Every time it would come on, he’d just tell Tripp, ‘This song’s for you.’”. Powell recorded the touching moment and shared it on Facebook, which quickly garnered over one million views.
The lyrics of the song are beautiful and poignant, with Rayce singing, “I’d spend 10,000 hours, and 10,000 more if that’s what it takes to learn that sweet heart of yours. I might never get there but I’m going to try, if it’s 10,000 hours or the rest of my life, I’m going to love you.”
The Powell family’s story has struck a chord with people worldwide, receiving messages of love and positivity from netizens. Powell, a mother of five, shared her experience of first learning about Tripp’s Down syndrome diagnosis while pregnant and how her oldest sons, Jayce and Rayce, responded with love and acceptance.
The heartwarming video has become a message of hope and comfort, particularly for parents of special-needs children. Powell said that she received messages from expectant mothers who have received a positive diagnosis for Down syndrome, seeking words of support and messages of optimism.
Powell acknowledges that hearing news about one’s child that isn’t “perfect” is scary, but the love she and her sons have for Tripp is beyond words. “It may not be the world’s idea of perfection, but it will be to one,” she said. In the end, she says all she cared about was that Tripp was well, and her months of concern vanished the moment she heard him scream.