Five Loving Stories to Remind Us About Mothers’ Sacrifices
Love Button is celebrating Mother’s Day with five loving stories about some of the sacrifices mothers do that make the world a better place.
Tell us which story was your favorite by commenting below!
(We are also having a limited time Mother’s Day sale! Select Love Button products are 25% OFF and our sale ends on May 9th at 11:59PM PST. Go to our shop to purchase now.)
1) Woman Fostered 81 Infants Over the Past 34 Years
Linda Owens has officially fostered 81 babies after recently acquiring a 7-week-old baby girl into her care.
Owens, a 78-year-old retired grocery department manager, is one of the longest-serving foster moms in the Alameda county. She has been fostering for 34 years.
Many of the newborns that come to her have complications: some were exposed to drugs when exiting the womb, some have developmental delays, and many do not sleep through the night. Owens has loved every child she has been given.
“This is what God’s handed me a gift to do,” said Owens, who has enjoyed raising babies since childhood.
Mia Buckner-Preston, the Placement Division Director of the Alameda County Department of Children & Family Services, oversees the placement of children into foster homes. She has nothing but praise for Owens.
“Her experience, the care, the love she provides to the babies, it’s immeasurable,” said Buckner-Preston. “She’s in a category almost all by herself.”
Owens has remembered every child she has fostered. The oldest is now 37.
2) Mom Gives Back to Hospital Through Reading
When the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital saved her daughter’s life, Michigan mother Ann Tisdale went out of her way to show her gratitude.
Tisdale’s daughter, Maya, was born premature. For the first three months of her life, Maya was stuck inside the hospital with strict surveillance.
“When Maya was born, the first, especially the first like three, four weeks in the hospital, we couldn’t hold her. She was too fragile, too small to even be held,” said Tisdale. “In the beginning she was on a ventilator and then on oxygen.”
During the 3 months, Tisdale found it hard to connect to Maya behind a glass screen. Eventually, however, she found something to bring herself closer to her daughter: reading books.
“The thing that we found that we could do every day was read books, so that just kind of became our thing,” Tisdale explained. “We would read books to her every day and it was a really important part for us to be able to connect with her.”
Tisdale went on to write a book about Maya and how her daughter was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy at 2-years-old. The mother hopes through these stories that children with disabilities like Maya can read them and feel like the superhero they are.
As a thank you to the hospital’s diligence, Tisdale donated 150 books to help other parents find their connection with their children. She hopes to give out even more in the future.
3) Mother Feeds Entire LGBTQ+ Community for Years, So They Help Back
Local street vendor Roselia “Rosy” Gil has fed Los Angeles’s LGBTQ+ community for years by saving countless patrons from going to sleep without eating.
Sixteen years ago, Gil decided to set her vending cart outside of a local gay bar, a location nobody was selling at. Gil came from Guatemala, a country where people could be killed for being in the LGBTQ+ community, so she made sure to accept all her customers with open arms. After serving the same location for years, she considered all the regulars her family, and her regulars loved her back.
When COVID-19 hit, Gil’s business halted. With no money coming in, the mother found herself unable to continue putting her 26-year-old son through college. She also could not send her 82-year-old mother back in Guatemala money for food and medicine.
Once LA’s queer community heard about Gil’s situation, they all decided to pitch in and help their favorite vendor.
A GoFundMe was posted, and Gil’s regulars donated $40,000 for her and her family.
“Even though Rosy is not LGBTQ, she is a part of our community,” one of the donators, Victor Rodriguez, said. “She not only fed our people but fed us with love… She’s a wonderful person and we want her around.
She’s the sweetest loveliest women ever. People loved her, all you hear coming out her mouth is ‘ayo amigo!’ cuz she knew everyone and everyone knew her. She’s been an important part without anybody realizing.”
4) Mom Donates Kidney to Toddler Across the Country
A mother received praised after she selflessly donated her kidney to a toddler who lived across the country.
Paige Flotkoetter did not think twice about going through kidney transplant surgery after getting a letter in her mailbox explaining a toddler needed a new organ to survive.
“People say, ‘Why did you do it?’ and I say, ‘I would want someone to step up for my child,'” the North Carolina mom of two told her local news.
The toddler, Hudson, was born with a chronic kidney disease. He had been in and out of the hospital for 23 months before doctors told his parents he required a kidney transplant. His kidney was too weak to support his body, and he needed a new one before his second birthday.
In a rush to help find a matching donor, Hudson’s parents started utilizing social media and mailing out letters. They had hoped they could find someone selfless enough to help their son.
Luckily, one of their letters ended up in Flotkoetter’s mailbox, who happened to be a perfect match.
The surgery was a success, and Hudson’s parents were immensely grateful for the North Carolina mom giving their son a second chance.
“Throughout this whole process, I’ve been so grateful for [Flotkoetter],” Hudson’s mom said. “For her to do this for Hudson, it’s amazing. It’s the most selfless thing someone can do for another human.”
5) Basketball Player Jeremy Lin Recalls His Mom’s Sacrifices for His Dream Job
Famous American professional basketball player Jeremy Lin recently attributed his success to his mom and all the sacrifices she made for him while growing up.
Lin’s parents emigrated to the U.S. before Lin was born, and the couple vowed to give their children everything they could.
When Lin decided to pursue a basketball career fulltime, his family was financially unstable.
“My mom at that time knew I wasn’t eating until I was full because I was trying to save money for us — because of the tuition and everything,” Lin explained in an interview he had on the Ellen Degeneres Show.
It was Lin’s mom who pushed him to his dream job.
“She said, ‘I’m going to give you two years to chase your basketball dream. Don’t worry about the money. I’ve got some money,'” Lin continued.
It was only after Lin found success did his mom tell him the money she used to support the family and his tuition came out of her 401(k).
“She didn’t tell me at the time, because she knew that maybe I wouldn’t accept it, or she just did what an amazing mother would do,” Lin said, adding, “And so that was just kind of a glimpse into the sacrifice that it took from my parents to be able to give me and my brothers a chance.”
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