Construction workers have a reputation for being tough as nails, but all it took was one little girl looking down from a window to make two experienced ironworkers melt.

While building a new wing of the St. Louis Children's Hospital in Missouri, Travis Barnes and Greg Combs noticed 2-year-old Vivian — who was receiving chemotherapy after being diagnosed this past Winter with acute lymphoblastic leukemia — waving down at them.

"Every morning we woke up and waved to them. And we had to wave until somebody waved back," Ginger Keith, Vivian's mother, told KSDK [1] of the ritual, which became a form of therapy for the young girl who spent most of her days in isolation.

One day, when Vivian and her mom went to the window, instead of seeing the ironworkers waving, they were pointing to a steel beam. On it were the words "Get well soon."

It was just what little Vivian — and her parents — needed.

"You kind of lose sight of it," said Combs of the scope of the construction project. "Then something will happen and you will remember where you're at."

And as for why they decided to smelt the message? "I was thinking about my own kids," Combs said, tearing up. "And how precious life is and everything you know . . . It makes me happy that something so simple like that could make somebody's day better."