Good Morning America celebrated three individuals today that they call “Overcomers.” Twenty-five-year-old Shanise Hamilton overcame homelessness to find success as a radio personality; Andrew Donnellon has only half a heart, but is now going to kick for a college football team; and Lorie Kiss lost her husband, only to move on by using his preserved sperm to have a child with her new wife.
Lorie is now eight months pregnant with the child of her deceased husband, JJ Allen. JJ tragically passed away from brain cancer.
“They recommended, in the slight chance that he survived and he wanted to have children in the future, that we would have to freeze his sperm before starting chemotherapy,” Lorie said on GMA. “While he was in that bed, we both made promises to each other … I promised him, I was like, ‘I don’t know how it’s going to happen but I’m having your babies at some point in my life.”
Seven years later, Lorie met Kathryn, “the second love of her life,” and now they are going to have the baby JJ intended Lorie to have.“We’re expecting our little boy,” Lorie said. “Ten years later after [JJ’s] passing, this is my ultimate promise to him and it’s finally coming true.”
Robin Roberts praised Lorie during the segment, and Lorie’s new relationship with a woman was not made an issue whatsoever. She was celebrated for making it through a tough situation and making the best of it, like the other two people featured as Overcomers. Congratulations to Lorie and Kathryn, and here’s to JJ’s memory!
