By LAURA HAMPSON
Tricia Somers was diagnosed with liver cancer last year. She knew she was going to die. She knew she didn’t have long.
Like any mother, Tricia’s first thought was for her son. Who would look after her 8-year-old son, Wesley, if she passed away?
Tricia’s a single mother and has no living family that could care for Wesley.
Little did she know, the answer was right in front of her. A beautiful human, a beautiful nurse called Tricia Seaman.
Somers had grown close to Seaman throughout the course of her treatment. They became friends; two women with the same name but very different fates.
“She came in and I just felt this overwhelming feeling of comfort,” Somers told ABC News affiliate WHTM-TV. “It was strange. I never had that feeling before and I thought she is going to take care of me. She is the one.”
On the day that Somers was meant to be discharged from the hospital, she decided her dying wish would be to ask Seaman if she would look after Wesley when she was gone.
“She said, ‘If I die will you raise my son?'” Seaman told ABC News.
“I didn’t know what to say in that moment. I told her I was flattered enough [that she] asked me. I said to her, ‘Why don’t you take a little time with this.’ … I was trying to be very diplomatic, everything in me said was saying ‘Yes I’ll do it.'”
Coincidentally, Seaman and her husband, Daniel, are the parents of three teenage girls and a 10-year-old son – and had just been approved to be adoptive parents. They had also started the process of becoming foster parents.
When Seaman broached the subject with her husband, he simply said: “We need to do something to help this lady.”
After Somers became too weak to walk, Seaman decided it was time to not only take Wesley into their home, but Somers as well.
“At one point I said, ‘I can’t be your nurse anymore. I’m your family now,'” Seaman said. “I talked to her and said I want you to come [home]. She kind of fell apart and cried. She said, ‘I’d love to.'”
When Somers and her son moved into the Seaman residence in May, doctors gave Somers a month to live. But with the care and support of the Seaman family, Somers can now walk by herself once again.
Seaman told the ABC that the paperwork is signed for her and her husband to legally adopt Wesley after Somers’ death. In the meantime, the joined families were able to go on holiday together over the summer.
“We just want to Trish to live life to the fullest and … we love her and love Wesley,” said Seaman. “He’s a very smart little boy. We want to see him get an education and be successful and know that he’s not alone. He has a family. He’s not going to be all by himself.”
All we can say, is that Tricia Seamann and her family are extraordinary people. Generous and kind in a way we had almost forgotten humans could be.
If only the world had more Tricias.
Top Comments
My case was a bit different, as they were already my step-kids. But really, what else was I going to do? They had three blood relations that they'd ever met: their sibling, and one elderly grandparent from each of their parents. Both the grandparents were already in nursing homes (amazingly they're both still around).
They'd lived with me for about four years, so when their mother died we just carried on with that arrangement. Had to fudge a few bits of paperwork while the Family Court dawdled over things, but that was about it.
I need to make a will just in case, but my problem is that I'm a single parent and I have to confess I don't now who the father of my child is as I had a one night stand abroad on the last night of a holiday. My sister is my only living relative who could care for my child and she actually said no when I asked if she'd be his guardian. She said she loves her nephew, but there is a reason she has chosen not to have children. Her selfishness breaks my heart and I don't know what to do.
I understand it must hurt, but ultimately, she isn't obliged to be willing to step in and raise your child.
Do you have any close friends who could step into the role whom you trust? It's better for your son's wellbeing that your sister is honest, as difficult as that may be. Hopefully you will live a long and healthy life and never need to be in this position <3