FORT WORTH, Texas — The bond between mother and daughter can be one of the strongest there is.
"My mom and I are very, very close. I’m blessed in that way," Nicole McGill said of her mother, Angie Layman.
So when Layman went to McGill, saying she wanted to travel from her home in Johnson County to New York City to help with the COVID-19 outbreak, McGill begged her not to go.
"I sent her all this information and all her response to me was: New York needs me. And I let her go," McGill said through tears. "Like I said, we are so close, so it was just scary. I wasn’t there to protect her. I couldn’t stop her from what she was going to see and experience. All I could do was pray."
She's now watching her mom, a long-time nurse from Godley, do just what she said she was called to do. She's in Manhattan, having just started her three-week stint helping those who need it most.
Layman said she called the nursing agency 350 times before getting through; that's how intent she was on helping. She told WFAA she felt an obligation to her fellow nurses to "help them in their time of need."
"I’m very proud of her to stand her ground and do something scary and out of her comfort zone," McGill said.
Layman is documenting her experience on a Facebook page called "Small Town TX Nurse in NYC."
This week, Layman made a plea on Facebook for people to send her whatever PPE they could, as the nurses are only given so much. She included the address on Facebook, saying gowns, masks and gloves were appreciated.
"Anything she gets, she can share with the other nurses," McGill said.
McGill said her mother is her hero.
"Yes, she is amazing. I pray for her every single day."
She asks you to keep her mother and the other health care workers in your prayers, too.
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