Once a mother, always a mother. No matter how old her children get, a mother never stops loving, caring, supporting, and just being there for them.
In 2017, Ninety-eight-year-old Ada Keating and her 80-year-old son, Tom Keating, had lived together their entire lives. Originally from Wavertree, Liverpool, Ada has four children of whom Tom is the eldest. He never married and lived with his mother all his life.
They shared a bond so strong that when Tom had to move into assisted living at the Moss View Care Home in Huyton, Liverpool, Ada made plans to join him there. Tom moved into the facility in 2016 when he could no longer get around on his own. Ada couldn’t bear to be away from him, so the next year, she moved into the same care home. No matter how old she got, she wasn’t going to stop caring for her child in need of support.+
Tom was a former painter and decorator, and Ada’s only son. Ada has three other daughters: Barbara, Margi, and Janet (who died when she was 13).
“You never stop being a mom.”
Ada, a former auxiliary nurse says she enjoys spending time in her son’s company more than anything else. They love to play games and watch Emmerdale.
“I say goodnight to Tom in his room every night and I’ll go and say good morning to him,” Ada said to Liverpool Echo. “I’ll tell him I’m coming down for breakfast. When I go out to the hairdressers he’ll look for me to see when I’m coming back. When I get back, he’ll come to me with his arms outstretched and give me a big hug. You never stop being a mum.”
Other members of their large family get to visit them regularly at the lovely facility. Tom says he’s very happy to have his mother looking after him at the care home.
“They’re very good here and I’m happy to see my mum more now that she lives here,” Tom said. “Sometimes she’ll say ‘behave yourself.’ She’s very good at looking after me.”
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Ada’s granddaughter and Tom’s niece, Debi Higham said, “There’s no parting them. It’s reassuring for us that they’re both getting looked after 24/7.”
Everyone at the care home loves the special bond Ada shares with her son, and they’re happy to have such a positive vibe in their facility.
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“It’s very touching to see the close relationship both Tom and Ada share and we are so pleased we were able to accommodate both of their needs,” said Philip Daniels, who manages their care. “It’s very rare to see mothers and their children together in the same care home and we certainly want to make their time together as special as possible. They are inseparable.”
