For Several Years Daughter Raised Money for Her Mom's Surgery, but It Disappears at the Last Minute — Story of the Day

A young woman raised money for her ailing mother's desperately needed kidney transplant but just before the operation, it disappeared.

Lara Carson re-read the insurance policy yet again and buried her head in her hands. $220,000 dollars was the cap off on transplants, but her mother's procedure would cost over $400,000 according to the hospital's estimate -- and that is if everything went well.

If there were complications, each extra day in the hospital alone would cost an extra $3,000, and that was without counting on any additional treatments or procedures. It was impossible, but she had to do it. She had to -- her mother's life was at stake.

Lara and her brother Jackson owed their mother everything. Their father had walked out when Lara was just ten and Jackson was five. At the time, their mother had been pregnant with their third child, but that hadn't bothered their father.

"I'm moving on, Delia," Lara had heard her father say. "I'm in love with someone else. I have the right to be happy!"

"But..." Delia sobbed. "But the baby...Our children!"

"YOU wanted children, I never did," cried her father. "Please, Delia, have some dignity and spare us both the embarrassment of all this begging and groveling!"

That had been twelve long years ago. Dan Carson had turned his back on his pregnant wife and children and didn't even bother to divorce her. Due to the shock, Delia had lost the baby.

But once she was back on her feet, Delia's children became the focus of her life and the family's great support had been their neighbor, Julius. Julius become Papa Julius, their adoptive grandfather, and babysitter while Delia worked night and day to make sure that they had everything they needed.

Eventually, the work and the stress took their toll, and Delia's health deteriorated. Two years ago, her kidneys had started to fail and she had been put on dialysis. Now, her nephrologist had explained, dialysis wasn't enough. He was putting Delia on the transplant list.

As far as Lara could see, they were short $200,000. She contacted several charities and foundations, but even though Delia was too poor to afford the transplant out of her own pocket, she was too prosperous to qualify for help.

Then one day Lara saw a post on Facebook for a GoFundMe page. Maybe that would be the solution! With her brother's help, Lara set up the page, explaining that the money would go towards Delia's transplant.

After consulting Delia's doctor, Lara confirmed that she was a viable donor, and decided that she would donate a kidney to her mom so she wouldn't have to wait her turn on the long list.

Miracles happen when you least expect them.

The story of the loving daughter who was willing to give a kidney to her ailing mom touched people's hearts and soon the donations started flooding into the GoFundMe page.

Quicker than she would have thought possible, Lara saw the donation hit the $100,000 mark. They were halfway there! And that was when she received a DM from her father.

"My darling daughter, I was so shocked to hear that your mom is so ill. I can't tell you how many times I've regretted my acts over the years. Please, let me see Delia. I need to make things right."

Lara didn't want to tell her mother about the DM. She didn't trust her father one bit, but her brother convinced her. "Mom has the right to decide, Lara," he told her. "He's still her husband."

And so Lara told Delia about Dan Carson's message and saw her mother's eyes fill with tears. Soon Dan was a frequent visitor, and he seemed to be a changed man. He was loving and supportive of Delia and tried his best to make up to Lara.

But Lara just wasn't having it. Her brother Jackson might buy the good dad act, but she remembered Dan's words to her mom just before he left. "YOU wanted children, I never did." Every time Dan smiled at her she heard those words.

One incredible day, their GoFundMe page hit the $200,000 mark and it kept going! They ended up raising close to $275,000! Lara scheduled the transplant and transferred the money into her mother's account. Soon, her mother would be healthy again!

But she was in for a nasty shock. Delia received a phone call from her bank manager. "Mrs. Carson, I'm sorry to disturb you, I know you are not in the best of health..."

"That's alright," Delia said kindly. "How may I help you?"

"Well..." the bank manager sounded embarrassed. "I'm not even supposed to call you...but are you aware that Mr. Carson just withdrew $273,000 from your joint account?"

"Our joint account," gasped Delia. "But we've been separated for over ten years."

"Mrs. Carson, you never opened a new account, and you never divorced him," the manager explained regretfully. "Legally, he had access."

Delia dropped the phone, and Lara rushed to her side. "Mom?" she cried. "Mom, what's wrong?"

"You were right, Lara, he took everything, every cent you raised. He robbed us!" Delia whispered, white-faced.

There was nothing they could do. The shock debilitated Delia still further, and Lara knew there just wasn't enough time to raise the money again. But the next day, Julius knocked on the door.

"Papa Julius," Lara cried, and threw her arms around him. "Oh, Papa Julius, I'm so scared..."

"It's okay my little Lara," Julius said. "Papa Julius is going to fix everything."

But Lara shook her head. "This isn't a bent spoke on a bicycle wheel, Papa Julis. It's $200,000!"

Mr. Julius pressed an envelope into her hand. Inside was a check for $250,000. "Papa Julius! Where did you get this!"

"Oh, well, do you remember my great-grandfather's coin collection?" he asked. "It was worth more than I ever imagined, but nothing is worth more than your mom's life."

Thanks to Papa Julius, Delia's transplant was a success, and Lara recovered quickly from her own procedure. As for Dan Carson, he thought that raising money for transplants was such a great idea that he turned it into a little business.

Unfortunately for him, he was caught and ended up serving 10 years in prison for multiple counts of fraud.

What can we learn from this story?

• Family are the people who love you and support you. Papa Julius acted like a real grandfather, while Lara and Jackson's father robbed them.
• Miracles happen when you least expect them. Lara had given up hope, but fate took a hand with a little help from Julius.

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If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a woman who was arrested for kidnapping after she saved a little girl from her abusive father.

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