Derek Ryder spent his whole life hiding his mother, Gail. She had one eye and scars across her face, and Derek was so ashamed that no one ever set foot inside their home. He told lies about her, even claiming she was \u201ctoo religious\u201d to meet his friends.<\/p>\n
When graduation came, Derek was chosen as valedictorian. The headmaster said he couldn\u2019t wait to meet his mother \u2014 but Derek couldn\u2019t bear the thought of her being seen. Instead, he secretly hired an actress to pretend to be his mom.<\/p>\n
When Gail excitedly said she was getting ready to attend, Derek snapped: \u201cYou\u2019re not going. I\u2019ve spent my life hiding you. You\u2019re a freak.\u201d Her eye filled with tears, but she only whispered, \u201cI\u2019m so sorry, my son.\u201d He never spoke to her again.<\/p>\n
Ten years later, Derek learned Gail had passed away. To his shock, she left him her house and $700,000. The lawyer explained why: when Derek was just three, a dog attacked him. Gail threw herself between them, saving his life but losing her eye and living scarred forever. For the first time, Derek realized the \u201cugly\u201d face he had rejected was the mark of a mother\u2019s sacrifice. At her grave, he sobbed, \u201cYou saved me, and I treated you so cruelly. Please forgive me, Mom.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Derek Ryder spent his whole life hiding his mother, Gail. She had one eye and scars across her face, and Derek was so ashamed that no one… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n