A mom battling cancer bursts into tears as a blanket drops to the floor during a ‘magic trick’ revealing her son was home for the first time in two years along with her granddaughter she was yet to meet.
As soon as the cloth hit the floor, Brenda Overson, from San Tan Valley, Arizona, couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw son Nick; his wife, Julia; and their newborn daughter, Zara, looking back at her.
The surprise at the end of what is a popular social media magic trick was too much for Brenda, who immediately started crying happy tears on October 16, with her family at all around her.
Nick was last home in early 2021 – the year he moved to Brazil to be with Julia, who he married in September of that year.
Brenda was able to attend the wedding in Brazil – the last time she saw her son – but because Julia was waiting for her immigration case to go through, the couple could then not travel to the United States.
In June of 2022, the same month Julia gave birth to Zara, Brenda was diagnosed with stage three cancer, which resulted in operations on her uterus, ovary, and colon.
That period was extremely tough on Nick, Julia said, and given her mother-in-law’s condition, she and Nick made a request to the U.S consulate to accelerate their approval process, which was successful.
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Once they had approval, Nick and Julia began planning the surprise for Brenda with family members.
During the moment, Nick’s brother Ivan is first seen carrying out the blanket dropping trick – in which someone runs out of a doorway as the blanket falls, appearing as if they have disappeared.
After one attempt, though, Ivan flipped things on their head, making sure that Nick and Julia replaced him for the big reveal.
Julia said: “It was perfect – my mother-in-law was extremely emotional and everyone there was happy to see her happiness; we needed a moment like this in our family after a hard time.
“She is one of the sweetest people I know, so it was very special to be able to do this surprise and see her reaction.
“I was very happy for my husband, too – he certainly had a lot of difficulty being in Brazil and seeing his mother go through these difficult things.
“Our video then went viral, and everyone was happy.
“Amidst so many bad things happening in the world, we are so happy that our family’s love is being shown to others.”