High Schooler Is Emotional After Visiting Mom in Hospital. Then She Finds a Surprise on Her Car (Exclusive)

A couple of weeks ago, Alyvia Russell and her family noticed that her mom Athena wasn’t feeling well. While her mom has always had health complications, including undergoing heart ablation surgery after giving birth to Alyvia's sister, things seemed worse than usual. She noticed her mom started having trouble breathing, and her feet began swelling up.

Alyvia's sister, who is EMT-certified, recognized that it had something to do with their mom’s heart. She immediately took her to urgent care; they were then sent to the hospital. Since then, Alyvia has visited daily.

"What was most challenging was seeing my mom cry because she was scared," the high school student from Pala, Calif., tells PEOPLE exclusively. "Not being able to cure her magically was making me upset too because I was sitting in her room trying to entertain her, but I could tell she was in pain."

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Then, one day after visiting the hospital, Alyvia was leaving to get gas and head home when she walked toward her car and noticed something on her door handle: a flower and a note that read, "You are perfect."

Upon seeing this, her jaw dropped. At the time, she was also Snapchatting her boyfriend, so she captured the moment on camera.

"My initial reaction was making sure this wasn’t some kind of trafficking tactic, but I felt a little assured when I saw that there was a flower and note on every single car in the parking lot," she adds. "After I realized that, I started to tear up a little bit because I didn’t hear good news that day. So coming out and seeing people left that on my car was the best part of my day."

Later, Alyvia posted the video to TikTok, where it went viral, amassing more than 2 million views and hundreds of comments.

"I decided to post the video to show what a good deed someone had done," Alyvia says. "But I also wanted to post it because I was hoping it would help find the people who did it. I cannot describe in words what I felt in that moment — I was feeling all kinds of emotions. I just wanted to thank the people who had done that because I was so appreciative of the act of kindness."

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Not long after the video took off, Alyvia shared the story with her mom, who was blown away by the love people were sending her in the comments.

"She came to me at every moment through this. It has also meant a lot to me," Athena tells PEOPLE exclusively. "I’m not much of a TikTok person, but I have read her comments many times alone through the nights when my daughters were too exhausted to stay. The warmth and love from complete strangers that started from the love of flowers and an uplifting quote to all the love of comments — it was amazing!"

"It was kinda crazy how viral it went, but I must say it was a godsend at that moment," the mom adds.

Although Alyvia usually loves to keep her car nice and clean, since this moment, she's kept the flowers and note in her dashboard so she can always remember the small gesture that made a big difference and impact.

She adds how the flowers also inspired her to go to Trader Joe’s, where she picked up white and red roses, baby’s breath and eucalyptus and made a bouquet for her mom to surprise her.

"I have not been able to find out who it is, but if I do, I just know I would give them the biggest thank you," she says of the Good Samaritan.

"I hope people take away that even the little things matter! Small gestures are so important to people," Alyvia says. "Also, no matter the terms you are on with someone, if you can’t see them in person, send them a text. Because once it’s too late, you’ll realize that you should’ve reached out. No matter what news you hear walking out of the hospital, you deserve flowers. I wish this was something that is done more often."

Read the original article on People