Sherri Dickson proved that parents will do literally anything to get grandchildren.
Moms are pretty great. They'll carry you in their body for nine months, give birth to you in a process that apparently kind of hurts, and then support you emotionally and financially until you're ready to be on your own. Then, if you need them to, they'll do it all over again for your kids so you don't have to.
That's what happened for one North Dakota family. Mandy Stephens and her husband Jamie were very excited to have kids after getting married in 2013, but had a difficult time, and eventually turned to in vitro fertilization. Mandy became pregnant with a son, but tragically lost him after he was born prematurely. Their entire family was devastated, including her mother, Sherri Dickson.
Sherri, like all parents, was hard-wired with an irresistible genetic urge to become a grandparent and load up that baby with free cookies and birthday checks. She was determined to live that dream by any means necessary. So when she found out her daughter would need a surrogate to have any future children, she stepped up immediately. The 51-year-old volunteered to carry her 32-year-old daughter's baby.
The doctors weren't immediately convinced. At her age, Sherri was at risk for a complicated pregnancy, and there was something else: she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The disease, which attacks the central nervous system, increased her chances of slips and falls. But Sherri had considered this, and also knew she had something to gain from it. This is the cool part.
Researchers now believe that changes in women's immune systems during pregnancy help keep the symptoms of MS at bay. Sherri, whose MS was in remission at the time, knew that being a surrogate would increase her chances to keep it that way. Isn't science great? Through IVF, Sherri became pregnant last November, and gave birth to a healthy baby girl on July 31. Her parents named her Myla.
Sherri, a mother of 3, told ABC News that the process was (relatively) painless:
“Pregnancy was easy. I was very fortunate… I was playing tennis a week before I delivered, and working out with my trainer, but the delivery at 51 was way harder than the delivery at 33 with my last baby.”
Leaving aside the fact that Sherri Dickson is clearly an ageless superwoman, her gesture was very brave and sweet. It's also brought her whole family together. As Mandy said to KFYR:
"Myla, her name, means miracle and her middle name is James. She's named after her brother Theo James. So she is just like God's greatest gift to our whole family. We are so in love with her and she is going to be one spoiled girl because our family just dotes over her. We say it's Myla's world and we are just living in it."
That goes without saying. This is a kid who, in a manner of speaking, has three parents, one of whom is also a grandma. She'll be getting 150% of the attention that a normal kid gets. She'll probably grow up pretty spoiled, but one thing's for sure: she'll never take her grandma for granted.