A pair of siblings who thought they were heading to their single mom's friend's home for a surprise birthday couldn’t contain their excitement when they discovered their own possessions and realized she had purchased their dream home. Hard-working mom Melanie has always put her children first, moving five hours across Texas from Wichita Falls to Houston in 2018 to pick up work. With no friends or family in Houston, Melanie later admitted that she struggled to make ends meet as she worked as a respiratory therapist at a local children's hospital for around two years. But in early 2020, the determined mom made a huge call to help put her family on a stronger financial footing. As the pandemic was hitting New York, the area was in desperate need of respiratory experts and medical staff. So Melanie drove to Oklahoma to drop her children off with their grandparents, accepted a FEMA-funded position in New York, and headed to what was, at the time, seen as the epicenter of the virus in America. The 33-year-old said she had nearly tripled her pay in the high-risk role, working 23 days without a break, and then taking just one day off a week for the rest of her three-month position. Having then returned to Texas, Melanie worked to tackle the virus in San Antonio, during which time her improved financial position meant she could sign the papers on a new-build home for her and her children, Zachary and Kairi.