Single mom's dying wish granted after nurse takes in her son

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Friday, September 19, 2014
Mother granted final dying wish
A mother recently diagnosed with terminal liver cancer has been granted her final dying wish

McALISTERVILLE, Pa. -- A mother recently diagnosed with terminal liver cancer has been granted her final dying wish.

Tricia Somers, 45, was diagnosed with liver cancer last year. This past March, she found out it was terminal.

The single mother's biggest concern was for her 8-year-old son Wesley. Somers said there was no one left in her family to care for him when she died.

That's when she befriended a nurse at her cancer center named Tricia Seaman. The long-time nurse told ABC News she and Somers became close during her treatments at the hospital.

Then one day, Somers asked one question.

"Frantically, I said to Tricia, 'If I die can you take my son? Can you care for my son?' I pretty much floored her because no one had asked her to take their child. I figured she thinks I am crazy, but I knew that is what I wanted," Somers told ABC affiliate WHTM-TV.

"I think my jaw just kind of dropped to the floor. I truly was speechless," Seaman said.

What Somers didn't know is that the Seaman family was already in the process of trying to adopt a son. Tricia told her husband about the request and he replied, "we need to do something to help this lady."

"Sometimes God has a plan for our lives," Seaman said. "Sometimes we think we know what that plan is, but we really do not."

The two families have become extremely close over the past few months, while Somers health has continued to quickly deteroirate.

"At one point I said, 'I can't be your nurse anymore. I'm your family now,'" said Seaman. "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.'"

Seaman and her husband are now helping care for Somers. As for Wesley, the once "only child" will have three sisters and a brother one his mother dies. The Seaman family have already signed the paperwork to adopt him.

"I did not have anybody until now, except Mommy," Wesley said. "I am happy to have a brother."

"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," Seaman said. "He has a family. He's not going to be all by himself."