Hypothetical question: if you had a neighbor who was succumbing to a terminal illness, would you honor their dying request, even if it meant that your life would be turned upside down? It’s an unlikely scenario, but it’s one that happened to a particularly giving Nevada couple just last year. Warning: their tale’s a real tearjerker!

Today’s story starts out simply enough, with one mother asking another for a favor. You see, Audrey, a North Las Vegas single mom of three, had been experiencing some health problems, so her doctors asked her to stay overnight at the hospital to undergo testing.

She asked her neighbors, Tisha and Kevin Beauchmin, parents of five, if they could watch her three kids, who they happily took in for the night.

Sadly, the medical tests came back with some alarming results. The mother had been diagnosed with Stage 2 esophageal and stomach cancer. Things weren’t looking good for Audrey, so she asked Tisha and Kevin if they would be open to becoming the legal guardians of her children.

Both parents obliged, a selfless act that ended up securing a home for the three kids when Audrey tragically passed away at home not long after.

In a statement on the family’s GoFundMe page, Tisha recalls what it was like to have her dying friend trust her with the most precious thing in the world—her children.

I didn’t think about it, I just cried… I didn’t call my husband and ask him.. I just cried and said YES!I knew my husband would say yes too, I know he would be by my side with this decision, as we grew to these kids. Seeing what they were going thru, hearing about their past, these kids needed us, and we needed them.

As it turns out, Tisha took on these kiddos because she knows all too well what it’s like to be without a loving home. In her interview with Las Vegas news station Fox 5, she reveals how her own past ultimately informed her big decision.

“I had to go into the foster home, and I don’t want them to ever have to deal with anything I had to deal with as a child,” she explains. “Children deserve to be children. They’ve been through too much—they deserve a loving family and a place to call home.”

How the community helped this family work through their growing pains

At the time of the initial interview, Tisha gave the news station a tour of her home, and it quickly became apparent that the family was struggling when it came to space.

Despite the Beauchmin’s best efforts, many of the eight kids were forced to share beds, and Tish and Kevin were having difficulty becoming foster parents because two of the children were sleeping in a loft space and the living room, not proper bedrooms.

It was clear that the family had just grown too fast—imagine being given three children overnight! Luckily, the Beauchmins had a guardian angel on their side who nominated them for Fox 5’s Surprise Squad, a news segment that bestows gifts on particularly generous individuals and families.

Now, we can’t possibly tell you what this family received from Fox 5, as well as the many local businesses who were touched by their story, because the list of gifts is simply TOO long to fit in this article! To see just how much this newly-expanded family’s home has changed, be sure to watch the video below.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on this family’s incredible journey! What would you have done in Tisha and Kevin’s situation? Have you ever adopted or fostered a friend’s children before? If so, how was the transition?