Tricia Somers has been granted her dying wish, by a nurse who has offered to raise her 8-year-old son. In 2013, the 45-year-old woman learned she had liver cancer and was informed her disease was terminal in March.
Tricia Seaman is a nurse who helped to care for Somers, and the two became close during treatment. The mother told the health practitioner that no one was left in her family to care for her son, Wesley, after she passed away. Her parents each died from cancer several years ago, her only brother is unable to take the child, and her ex-husband has had only sparse contact with the child.
"Frantically, I said to Tricia, 'If I die can you take my son? Can you care for my son?'" Somers said. "I knew that is what I wanted."
Seaman has been a registered nurse in the oncology ward at the Pinnacle Health's Community General Campus for 14 years. Unknown to the mother, Seaman and her husband were already hoping to adopt a son when the unusual request was made.
"In 20 years, I have never had an occasion not to trust my wife's heart," Dan Seaman told ABC affiliate WHTM, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. After he found out about Somers' request, he and his wife were determined to find a way to push through with the adoption.
Seaman began visits with Somers and the young boy at their home soon after the request was made, in order to determine if the fit was right. The families soon decided to join together.
The couple took the child into their home, located in McAlisterville, where the youngster has been living since May. Since that time, the new family has started to bond, and the parents are adopting traditions important to the child. Once an only child, young Wesley now lives with three teenage sisters and one 10-year-old brother.
The mother is receiving chemotherapy, in an effort to prolong her life. Even though Wesley no longer lives with her, the biological mother hopes to be able to see her son grow older. She is currently in hospice.
"I am at peace and I accept it," Somers told the press. "I just hope that I can be here as long as I can be here."
