Student invites mother to prom to give her night she never had

GAHANNA, OH (WCMH) – A Gahanna-Lincoln High School student surprised his mom by asking her to prom.

Trey Potter said he wanted to show his mother, MelissaRoshan (MelRo) Potter how much he admires her after everything she’s been through in her life.

“She never had that experience and she’s risked so much throughout my life and made so many sacrifices. I thought it would be the right thing to do,” Trey Potter said.

MelRo Potter grew up living in 23 different foster care homes. She ended up pregnant and homeless at sixteen-years-old.

“My mother was raped when she was 13, and I am the product from that rape. And as a result I lived in the foster care system and didn’t hear any positive reinforcements that I was valuable or worthy,” mother MelRo Potter said.

MelRo was abused in some of the foster homes, but fought through the pain and raised her son alone. She was later discovered as a model and landed several magazine covers.

“When I was pregnant with him well, I heard, ‘Mel because you lived in the foster care system, you’re probably not going to raise a thriving individual. It just doesn’t happen. You can’t give him what you don’t have.’ So seeing who he has become and knowing the sacrifices that have been made and how much I love him and seeing that come to fruition, I’ve proved him wrong,” Potter said.

Potter turned her life around and is now an advocate for foster care children.

“I think it shows her how much I appreciate her cause I really do after all she’s been through and all I’ve been through with her,” Trey Potter said.