A mother and daughter’s heart-to-heart talk about their unbreakable bond | PBS News Weekend

A mother and daughter’s heart-to-heart talk about their unbreakable bond

Yomi Young was born with a rare genetic disorder that causes her bones to break under the slightest pressure. In this animated feature from our partners at StoryCorps, she and her mother, Sarah Churchill, talk about the day she was born.

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  • John Yang:

    Finally, tonight for Mother's Day, an animated story from our partners at StoryCorps. Yomi Young was born with a rare genetic disorder that causes her bones to break under the slightest pressure. She and her mother Sarah Churchill talks about the day she was born.

  • Sarah Churchill:

    Your skull was fractured your arms, your ribs, your legs, and they said that you would probably die noon and night. So the best thing would be to leave you at the hospital. But there was no way that I was going to leave you there. And they had a rocking chair. And I would sit there and hold you. And I remember, our hearts touched each other. I used to always say we have one heart, you and I.

  • Yomi Young:

    So what was it like caring for me throughout the years?

  • Sarah Churchill:

    Well, I remember giving you a bath. And you turned your arm and I heard it.

  • Yomi Young:

    The bone snapped.

  • Sarah Churchill:

    Yeah. And you were crying. I'm crying.

  • Yomi Young:

    I used to keep track of my fractures, but then they just got out of control. I would fall. Or I remember one time when my sister has dropped an orange on me. And that broke something. I mean, look at me too hard, and I would break. So I have my down periods.

    But I don't always have to articulate every single thing because you get it. You understand? You know one of my regrets is that I didn't have my own children. And I think one of the biggest desires for wanting to mother is to be able to carry on this legacy of love that you started with me. You tell me often that you believe I picked you.

  • Sarah Churchill:

    I think children come as a gift to their parent.

  • Yomi Young:

    I don't know if I've ever told you this but I also feel like you picked me if you had walked away and left me there when I was born, nobody would have looked askance

  • Sarah Churchill:

    But I felt that you were a part of me so I knew that I made the right decision

  • Yomi Young:

    And I've always admired you for that.

  • Sarah Churchill:

    It was my honor.

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