CLARKSDALE, Miss — Most moms will tell you that raising children requires some sacrifice. When you're a teen mom, you give up a lot to raise your baby and yourself.
After becoming a mother, not once, but twice before graduating high school, one Mississippi woman stayed the course refusing to give up on her dreams and her family.
Dr. Mary Williams, founder and CEO of Urgent and Primary Care Clinic of Clarksdale, MS, has an office that is filled with degrees, awards and proclamations. However, this is not quite the desk job that she had in mind.
"It's a testament that God's thoughts are not our thoughts," Williams said.
Her life was never imagined, but it's a vision her mother saw from the start.
"Just imagine she had 10 Children, you know, wasn't educated herself. We grew up really humble beginnings... in Mark's Mississippi. She always saw something greater than I saw and myself, " Williams said.
At 15 years old, Mary's life drastically changed. She was pregnant and afraid. She became a mom at 15 and again at 17.
"I didn't tell until I was late pregnant ... like 20 weeks At that time, you know, you hid it with everything you could. But she embraced me. My family embraced me and supported me."
Even when other adults said her life was over, she was determined and excelled with her daughter and son by her side.
"I was the first one out of 10 to graduate high school."
Mary went to college earning multiple degrees- eventually earning her Doctor of Nursing degree.
"My mom played a pivotal role in you know, this. My mom passed when I was 26 years old."
Even though her mom did not live to see Mary in her white coat, in a way she did. Mary's children did too.
"I wanted them to be exposed to more, I wanted them to be able to walk in a room and have respect," she said. "My daughter, she's a school teacher. My son, he's a certified dialysis technician and married with his family."
Even though this was not her plan, Mary said it is better than her wildest dream.
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