At the end of her journey into despair and hopelessness, Lorhae Thompson has been offered the chance to see the

beauty and caring that shines in the human heart.

Thompson’s five-year-old son Braxton drowned in Lake Bonavista last month.

Days later, a second mortgage she’d been forced to take out on her home, totalling $14,000, was recalled by a private

lender.

But as her community and friends scurried to help and set up a fundraiser to allow the mother who lost one of her sons

to keep her home, an anonymous donor came forward last Friday and paid off her entire second mortgage, said

community realtor Helen Milton.

“It was quite exciting and we were just so delighted,” she said of the payment that stunned everyone and was far

beyond what she and the rest of the community hoped for.

Milton’s Sutton group office faces Lake Bonavista, and she was there when Thompson’s son died.

Braxton was carried out from the shallows by a current while at the lake with his mom and siblings.

He was found unconscious by fire department divers and was rushed to hospital but died later that day.

Milton said she and the rest of the Lake Bonavista Sutton Group office started a fundraising effort hoping to help

Thompson keep her house.

“It was such a terrible, terrible catastrophe and we just wanted to do something about this horrible situation,” she said.

“It’s just such a heart-wrenching story and something we had to do something about.”

Milton said the Sutton fundraiser had raised almost $5,000 when the anonymous donor came forward one week ago.

The cash raised by the real estate office will now be used to pay a couple of the original mortgage payments in the

home and to buy gift certificates Thompson can use to buy her two kids food and clothing, said Milton.

Donations received at the southeast office ranged from change dropped off at the front counter to $1,500 donated by

Milton’s office and the Hawkwood Sutton Group outlet.

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