Adoption is a notoriously messy process.
There is plenty of paperwork to fill out, expenses to pay and various hurdles to leap to make sure everything goes smoothly. In some cases, the birth parents may also have some say in who is or isn’t able to adopt their child. Although there are ideal situations for children to be adopted in, it sometimes comes down to whoever is willing to love the child as their own should be able to adopt them.
That was the case in this story out of Phoenix, Arizona.
Ingeborg McIntosh was an unusually prolific foster parent.
Over the years she’d lived in Phoenix, McIntosh had taken care of more than 120 foster children. Still, she had never formed as strong of a bond as she did with one little boy named Jordan. In her own words, McIntosh said holding Jordan in her arms was “love at first sight.” Still, there was a slight hitch in the adoption process.
The birth mother had originally requested that Jordan grow up in a black or biracial household.
Although McIntosh and the adoption agency tried to honor the request, nobody else wanted Jordan as much as McIntosh.
After some time had passed and Jordan had turned four, the birth mother agreed that he could stay with McIntosh. Needless to say, she couldn’t have been happier! For her, the issue of race or ethnicity had never come up in her thinking: “He was a part of the family, no matter what.”
Still, the story got a poetic twist some 28 years later when the family got some bad news.
McIntosh had been diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease, a rare issue where the kidneys develop lots of cysts which can crush the organs making them non-functional. If she had any chance of living, she would need to get a kidney transplant. Without hesitation, Jordan knew he needed to help as mom.
Jordan went in and checked to see if he could donate his kidney to his mother.
As it turns out, the pair were a match.
Although McIntosh repeatedly told him that he didn’t have to make such a sacrifice and that he could back out if he wanted to, Jordan stuck by his decision. In his own words, Jordan felt the love he had for his mother left him with almost no choice:
“I feel like this was my calling in life, I guess . . . Hopefully I can do more for her as I get older, but for the moment, it’s the least I could do.”
This story goes to show that we never know what kind of curveballs life will throw at us.
Despite the initial obstacles in the process, McIntosh was determined to take in Jordan as her own child. Little did she know that Jordan would repay that love tenfold later down the road. Regardless, their story is a great example that adoptive families can be just as supportive and loving as biological ones.
For those who were moved by this story, consider donating to the family’s GoFundMe to cover the costs of the surgery!
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