I never gave much thought about who my hero was until now. My mamaw would be my hero because of many reasons. She gave up her life to raise me and my siblings. When I was a newborn and my 3 siblings were 8 years old and under, we got taken away from my parents. The reason is because they beat my older siblings and they weren’t good parents. My papaw was sick with diabetes and he had obesity problems.

The day I was able to leave the hospital after being born, I went straight to her house where there was an 8 year old, 7 year old and a 2 year old on top of my papaw being sick. Custody was finalized in 1998.

In July 2002, my papaw died from a heart attack and an artery burst in his stomach. My mamaw was heartbroken not just because she lost her husband but for us kids, since our papaw was basically our dad.

Times were very tough for my mamaw and papaw. They had to pay for us to go through school without getting child support until custody was finalized. My papaw worked his butt off to financially support us. My mamaw would stay up multiple nights with the kids when we were sick or upset.

Now I’m 18 years old and even though we fight she will always be a role model to me and always are be hero. If it wasn’t for her I honestly don’t know where I would be or I wouldn’t know my siblings. I appreciate her more and more each day for what she did for us.