Sometime early November 2016
A girl named Katty, walked to the door of her neighbor, Susan, who is a mother 5 children. She had been experiencing some pain in her stomach and desired to leave her kids with Susan while she visited the clinic to get checked. Susan had not known Katty for a long time, however their daughters were friends and they would occasionally spend the night time at her house. Being a mother, she was understanding and gracefully accepted to be left with the children as the mother drove herself to the hospital.
After a few days in the hospital
Several tests have been done and the doctors diagnosed Katty with stage 2 esophageal stomach cancer. This meant that while the cancer had not spread to the surrounding tissues, she had to start medication as soon as possible. This meant that her kids would continue staying with Susan as their mother received the necessary medication to save her life. In a span of 2 weeks the cancer had spread and was now considered to be life threatening. In the course of the treatment, one day Katty asked Susan, if she could be the legal guardian of her 3 children. This was due to the fact that she knew she did not have much time left to make proper arrangements for her children to be well taken care of. Katty did not want her children to end in foster care. Susan accepted and a few days after, Katty passed away. This was a hard time for her children who she has single handedly raised as a single mother. She had been the only parent they had known and now she was no more.
Susan now had to learn to be a mother
To her 5 kids and Katty’s 3 kids. Although their daughters had been friends for some time, she personally did not know the children. She now had a family of 10 to take care off. She promised herself that she would not take the children to foster care since she had grown up in a foster home. She knew the experience would not be nice for them. Judging by what she had seen them go through she reckoned that they needed a place they would call home and a loving caring family.
A neighbor noticed that the family was struggling
To keep with the new demands. The already small house now had to be shared by 10 individuals. They had to purchase extra furniture to accommodate the new additions and also partition the house to accommodate the extra 3 children. The neighbor nominated them for the Fox 5 surprise squad show. A show that aims at making the day brighter for people living around Las Vegas.
The squad arrived and promised to partition the house
While that family went on a fully paid vacation. However, in addition to building the partition, the family would also receive new furniture and a bed for every kid. The squad also repainted the whole house and changed the carpet. They would also offer Susan’s son $1500 since he had been planning to move out, but did not have enough finances. Moreover, the family would receive a year’s worth of free grocery to help them with the transition. The surprises did not end there, a volunteer decided to give the family a van that can be able to carry 12 people in order to help the family move around from one place to another together.
In an interview, Susan said that she did what any other reasonable human being would do.
Being a mother and having personally been raised in a foster home, she would not allow herself to take the children to a foster home. According to her husband, they were struggling with the new expectations from the renovations needed to feeding the big family. But now with the extra help they got from the surprise squad show, they can now comfortably raise their 8 children. Susan says that she loves her family and she would love to keep them happy.
Can you imagine having a family of seven and then taking 3 more family members?
Considering the high cost of living while being an average earner? Well, truth be told, not so many people would do what Susan and her family did by showing love and giving the late Katty’s children a place they can call home. In the end, their good intentions had unexpected results. They received a home make over and they will not have to worry about food for a year. Susan’s intention was to show Katty’s children love, give them a home while avoiding them going to a foster home. Her wish was granted by well-wishers and she got more than she could imagine. Her efforts did not go unnoticed.
This is a true story inspired by actual events.
However, the names have changed for privacy reasons and to give the family closure. All this was done before Christmas to ensure that the children would have a place to call home during the festive period.
