MOSES LAKE — “Pow-Pow” Sean Simpson was grandfather and best friend to seven-year-old Paizley Simpson.

“She was the first granddaughter; they were extremely close,” said Kayleen Simpson, Paizley’s mother, in an interview. “There weren’t many weekends where she wasn’t begging to go down to their house. Her grandma and her Pow-Pow were basically her world.”

He was a linchpin of the Simpson family, the person the family would turn to if they needed help covering the bills or needed help designing a home renovation project, Kayleen said.

He was incredibly patient with his grandchildren, Kayleen added, often getting pulled away for hours-long tea parties, or a rousing game of UNO or Old Maid. He had recently taken Paizley to Disney on Ice.

Then, in December, while watching a football game, Sean told his wife that his arm was hurting. Not long after, he fell to the ground.

Sean had suffered a heart attack. At 53, he passed away at the scene. Paizley was distraught and stayed out of school for a week while the family planned his funeral.

But not long after she returned to Garden Heights Elementary, something serendipitous happened, Kayleen said. February is Heart Health Month, and the school had an assembly to talk about heart health, the importance of healthy choices and the signs of a heart attack.

Paizley came home that day excited, Kayleen said. She had, along with the rest of the family, learned about her grandfather’s cause of death from the coroner. Suddenly, she had a mission.

She went to the dollar store that night, buying materials for a crafts project. The next night, she went to her grandparents’ house, carrying with her a handmade poster depicting the common signs of a heart attack, and enlisted the help of her cousin to make a fundraising video.

As part of Heart Health Month, Garden Heights Elementary had challenged its students to raise money for the American Heart Association. Paizley rose to the occasion with her video, setting a personal goal to raise $500 by the time the fundraiser was over, Kayleen said.

She raised that much in a single day.

Three days after her mother posted her video to Facebook, she had personally raised over $1,000 for the school’s fundraiser. As of Thursday, the fundraiser had raised just short of $2,000, more than half of the school’s total.

It didn’t take long for news stations to get wind of Paizley’s story, and she was soon approached by Spokane-based TV station KHQ, as well as local media.

“She got, like, the full experience,” Kayleen said. “She was kind of thinking that they were going to want to know about the signs of a heart attack, but they wanted to learn about her and her grandfather.”

Kayleen said that between the initial project and her subsequent interviews with media, she hopes the experience of honoring her grandfather’s memory has been therapeutic for Paizley as she goes through her grieving process.

“I’m so proud of her, I think she’s amazing,” Kayleen said. “I think that she’s taken an extremely difficult situation and made the most positive outcome that she possibly could have.”

With a little prompting from her mother, Paizley quickly lists the common warning signs of a heart attack that she’s learned in recent weeks: pain in the shoulders, chest, jaw or back, vomiting and shortness of breath.

When asked what she will miss most about her grandfather, Paizley considers the question for a moment.

“His hugs,” she replied.

Paizley’s fundraiser is still underway, and those wishing to donate can do so at bit.ly/2PxaQhB. Donations are due by March 3, according to the donation page.

Emry Dinman can be reached via email at edinman@columbiabasinherald.com.