Hospice nurse agreed when dying mom asked her to take in her son — but her one simple condition left the mom in tears
Some people who are selfless towards others often get more than they ask for. In 2014, a hospice nurse named Tricia Seaman did something similar when a dying single mom, Trish Somers, asked her if she would take in her 8-year-old son, Wesley, after her death. Even though they were strangers to each other, the mom could sense the nurse's kindness and had no one else to turn to for taking care of her child. Soon enough, the nurse agreed to do it and had something even more to offer, per PEOPLE.
Somers was told that she had terminal liver cancer in the spring of 2013, per ABC News. Her biggest concern during that time was Wesley's well-being after her death. The mom didn't have any family who would take the kid in, and her parents had died years earlier. But then, Seaman walked into her life and she could sense something different about the nurse. She was in Pinnacle Health Hospital in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, for a procedure when she met Seaman. "Before she even said anything, I felt comfort. It's almost like someone put a warm blanket on me," Somers told CBS Mornings. "I've never felt anything like that before or any other connection with anybody else." Seamam shared that she could have that kind of impact because she really liked her job.
The mom had found out her cancer was terminal at that time, and she was only 45 years old. Seaman gave her a hug, and Somers said she had something to ask her. "I blurted it out, can you take my son, will you raise him if I die?" The nurse consulted with her family and agreed to the mom's request. But she had one condition. She didn't just take in her son, but also the mom. Otherwise, she would have had to spend her final days in a nursing home, per the outlet. "They needed to be together," Seaman explained. "That's what we are supposed to do. More than we are asked." The nurse started to visit the mom and her son, as well as inviting their family over to see if everything was a good fit, per ABC News.
"The first time she was here, I said, 'Does everything look okay to you? Is it what you had in mind?' I felt like I was interviewing. She said it was perfect," Seaman recounted. Soon enough, they told Somers they had decided to take her in with her son. "At one point, I said, 'I can't be your nurse anymore. I'm your family now.' 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.'" The family even managed to go on a vacation with Somers and her son during the summer. They signed Wesley's guardianship papers after Somers died in 2014.
About Wesley, Seaman shared, "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." 11 years later, Seaman and Wesley appeared on CBS Mornings. Wesley had turned 19 and grown into a "fine young man," according to Seaman. "His mom would be incredibly proud." Wesley had nice things to say about his now-adoptive mother, too. "You meet her and you automatically know that she has a caring spirit and she's just a one-of-a-kind nurse." The boy is in college now and is thinking of getting into nursing.