MUSKEGON, Mich. -- A Michigan teen tells WXMI he wanted to take his mom to his senior prom because she missed her own while she was pregnant with him.
Senior Jah'vontae Smith survived an operation after doctors found a brain tumor when he was only five years old. Doctors had given him a 50/50 chance at survival and his mother said she never thought he'd live long enough to attend his prom. But he did, and he'd been planning to take his mom for years.
Joy Bridges, his mother, got pregnant with Jah'vontae and was unable to fit into her prom dress that spring - so she skipped it. Jah'vontae said this was one way of giving her a special night she never had. Joy said she gave her son every excuse in the book not to go, but eventually gave in and "Is still on cloud 10... I'm past nine."
"She loves her kids, she loves us all.She’s our only one in our corner; she’s always there she’ll never leave," Jav'vontae told WXMI.
Joy has been a single mother for a long time.
"I’ve always been told a woman can’t raise a man, it’s impossible. No it’s not, because I’ve raised an incredible young man by myself," she said.
Joy said she didn't go to the dance portion of the prom event in order to give her son time with his friends, but the two enjoyed the high school's "Show Off" event.
