A Pennsylvania boy is getting to know a new family as his mother enters hospice care in her losing battle to cancer.
When Tricia Somers, 45, found out her liver cancer was terminal in March, the single mother had no idea who would take care of her 8-year-old until a nurse at a Pennsylvania hospital walked into her life.
“She came in and I felt this overwhelming feeling of comfort,” Somers recalled in an interview with WHTM-TV. “She’s going to take care of me. She’s the one.”
Nurse Tricia Seaman was there as the chemotherapy took its toll and left her unable to get out of bed to take her son, Wesley, to school.
Just before Somers was about to be discharged from Pinnacle Health’s Community General, she requested only one thing from Seaman when the inevitable happened.
“If I die, can you take my son?” Somers asked.
The nurse was shocked by her patient’s request, but seriously discussed the idea with her husband. The couple was already looking to adopt another son, adding to their family of three daughters and one boy, but never believed it would happen like this.
“I’ve never had an occasion not to trust my wife’s heart,” Daniel Seaman told WHTM-TV. “We have to do something. We have to figure out a way to make this happen.”
The Seamans said yes.
It would be a chance for Wesley to grow up with people who not only knew his mother, but could help him secure an education and know he’s not alone, according to ABC’s Good Morning America.
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Wesley understands he doesn’t have a lot of time left with his mom, whom he described as loving and gentle, but shows unfathomable maturity even though he doesn’t like talking about her health.
“I didn’t have anybody until now. Anybody except for you, Mommy,” Wesley told his mother while playing with Legos in his bedroom.
It’s not clear how long Somers has left to live, but she’s spending her final months in hospice care with the Seamans and Wesley as one family.
“I feel bad that I’m doing that to him, but he says, ‘Mom, it’s not your fault,'” Somers told the TV station. “I’m just hanging in there and holding on and hopefully I can see my son grow up.”
