Terminally ill Pennsylvania mom was worried for her son — so she made one heartbreaking request of her nurse

Trisha Summers was 45 years old, a single mother, and living with a rare and aggressive form of cancer. She had just been told that the disease was terminal when she asked the question no parent ever wants to consider: who would care for her eight-year-old son Wesley, after she was gone? She had no family to ask, so, from her hospital bed at Pinnacle Health in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, she turned to the nurse standing beside her.

That nurse was Trisha Seaman. The two women had only just met, but the connection was immediate. "Before she even said anything, I just felt comfort. It’s almost like somebody just put a warm blanket on me," Summers shared with CBS correspondent Steve Hartman in their 2013 segment. When Hartman asked her what favor she asked Seamen, she responded, "I said, 'I have something that I need to ask you. Can you take my son? Will you raise him if I die?'" As Hartman noted, "You didn’t know her that well," she said, "She was a stranger," further explaining that she had no other family to turn to, which is why she asked Seamen. Though shocked, Seaman didn’t turn away. "You know, what do you say to somebody? She is 45 years old. So, I just gave her a hug," Seamen said.

After discussing it with her family, she agreed, not only to take Wesley in, but to bring his mother home, too. Without that decision, Summers would have spent her final days in a nursing home, and Wesley might have ended up in foster care. Instead, they lived under one roof, surrounded by people who treated them as their own. Seaman’s generosity extended far beyond her professional role. "That’s more than she asked you for, though," Hartman said. "It is. But that’s what we’re supposed to do. More than we’re asked," Seaman replied. When asked whether she was speaking as a nurse or a person, she answered, "Both."

Eleven years have passed since then. Wesley is now 19 and in college. He appeared with Seaman in a new segment on CBS Mornings and said he’s considering studying nursing. When Hartman asked him what his mother saw in Seamen, he said, "You meet her and you just automatically know that she just has a caring spirit. She’s a one-of-a-kind nurse." Seaman shared how much he’s grown, adding, "He has turned into such a fine young man, and his mom would be incredibly proud," she said. She also mentioned that she no longer rides in the car with him because, as she joked, he drives "just a tad faster" than she’d like.

The story of what happened between these two families left a strong impression on those who watched it unfold. @agl5132 wrote, "The fact that this mother was able to live within the family with her son and see the people and environment that he would be raised in is incredible. Blessings to not only the nurse, but her family. This was their decision as well." @Beerglass1980 commented, "We don't need more people like this, WE NEED TO BE LIKE THIS." @elizabethheyenga9277 noted, "Mercy is compassion in ACTION. What a nurse he will be." @KimberlyThompson-u3 added, "She beams with beauty from the inside to the out. What an incredible story. That woman knew what her son needed from the nurse." @LIT70 shared, "This Nurse/human being makes me so very proud of my profession. God bless her, her family, and Wesley."