Leah-Mary McGow M

Leah-Mary is a 35 year old single mom. She grew up in the "system", was tortured by a madman at 17, kidnapped by 2 men at 18, and had countless estrangements from her family and friends. When she finally had her life straight again, she fell in love and had a son. Her spouse mentally, and emotionally abused her for their whole relationship and then when her son was 4 months old her spouse tried to kill her. She put him in jail, stripped him of all rights to her child and moved to where he wouldn't find her. Now she's a single mom of a toddler with no support from anyone.

LM is my hero because all of this, and I mean ALL of this happened to HER, not a neighbor, or someone you read about, they happened to her. These kind of horrible events could make someone, anyone really, bitter and cynical, jaded and completely introverted and untrusting. That would be Normal.
But LM just ISN'T "normal" she is an enigma. LM wakes up every morning and posts something uplifting and positive on Facebook. She reads everyone's posts and comments something encouraging and empowering so that everyone knows someone is there, believing in them. LM sends random texts to her friends telling them how incredible and important they are. She makes sure everyone feels good about themselves. She is always there when someone needs an ear or a shoulder, she watches over us all and really, she shines this light on us. She even created a support group called Sunshine and Silver Lining so that everyone has somewhere to go when they feel alone! She helps us all find positivity in EVERYTHING and this is how she lives her life!

Here's the incredible thing, LM never asks for anything in return. Nothing at all. She doesn't cry to people or beg for anything, she is literally just here for us all.

LM is MY hero because with all she's been through, she never lost her heart or the ability to love genuinely. LM has so much love in her that she freely gives it to anyone. Anyone at all. She is truly beautiful. She doesn't get the recognition she deserves, in fact, I'm not even sure most people realize what she does, but some of us do. Some of us couldn't live with out her. She has made our lives better because if she can survive all that and still be this loving and happy, then we can too. I know that for me I am so lucky to know her.

I looked through the list of values my hero best fits and it was hard to narrow it down because LM is the epitome of ALL of those values.

Submitted by Anonymous

Teaching By Example
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