2-year-old hugs pizza delivery driver who just lost his daughter

WEST WARWICK, R.I. (WLNE) — A pizza delivery driver in Rhode Island received something more special than any tip this week.

Ryan Catterson was delivering pizza to the home of Lindsey Sheely of West Warwick on Saturday night when her 2-year-old son ran up to him and gave him a big hug.

Sheely, who caught the moment on her doorbell camera, said: “I put it up on my Instagram. Actually, I just put it up in my (Instagram) stories because we thought it was funny and cute.”

What Sheely didn’t know at the time is what that moment would mean to Catterson.

Catterson’s 16-year-old daughter, who lived in California with his ex-wife, recently passed away. She had struggled with mental health.

“After losing my daughter this past week, it just touched me because it was like she was there, you know, and it just meant a ton to me,” he said.

His ex-wife, Danielle McCord, said she's "grateful that someone saw his pain and could be there for him."

"It's so easy to miss people and their internal pain," she said. "That even goes to our daughter, you know. We didn't know her pain."

The video of his hug with the 2-year-old made its way to Catterson, and he reached out to tell Sheely how much it meant.

"It’s going to be tough to know that I'm not going to be able to hug her again," Catterson said of his daughter.

The hug may have lasted only a few seconds, but it's a moment Catterson will hold onto always.

"That might have been her just looking out for me at the time," he said. "Those words mean something, made me think, 'Wow, maybe she’s there.'"