We all know that single moms are superheroes, but one mom is getting praise online for the inventive way she’s designed her “micro-studio” for herself and her two sons. Jamacé Dickerson, or @jamacdickerson as she goes by on TikTok, has terminal cancer and says that living in tight quarters has allowed her to care for her children without tiring herself out.
“It’s working,” the mom said.
Jamacé showed off her petite palace in a video from April 17.
“A single mom living in a micro-studio,” she said in the video before opening the door. No space is wasted in the apartment, which Jamacé shares with her two sons, who are 5 and 7. Although her studio forgoes certain luxuries, the mom does have an in-unit washer/dryer combo machine, an entryway for shoes, and a mini-fridge.
She also has raised her bed on top of cube storage so her sons have space to play or have privacy.
“This is my king bed that we all sleep on,” she explained.
Jamacé calls the space under the bed the “fort” and even has storage so that her sons can store their toys, books, and games there.
“I have my books in the outside cube storage,” she added.
She doesn’t have a stove or oven, but instead uses automated “kitchen robots” (machines that she can preset to cook her food), which we think is pretty darn cool.
The mom's video has been watched over 2 million times, but unfortunately some people were straight up judgy.
"I can't picture a way where I'd hate to live more," one commenter wrote.
"100% No city is worth living like this," someone else wrote. "Move somewhere more affordable."
"I'd have a panic attack," a third commenter added.
But other people could see that the mom was doing her best.
"People get praised & say it's cute when it's a tiny home or RV with kids, why not a small apartment," wondered one person. "You're providing & that's all that matters."
"IKEA should sponsor you the way you’ve utilized this space is genius!" someone else cheered.
"You’ve done a great job!!!" another commenter wrote. "I don’t think I could have been so creative!"
But for all the haters out there, the mom explained that there’s a very real reason why she lives in such a small space.
The mom made a second video in response to one commenter who rudely asked “why did you have kids if this is how they live?”
“When I was 29 weeks pregnant with him,” she said, gesturing to her youngest in the video, “I got breast cancer.”
“So I had to go through chemo while pregnant with him,” she continued. “He was born at 33 weeks and had to stay in the NICU for three weeks and then for nine months after he was born I had to do chemo.”
She ultimately had a double mastectomy and during this assuredly tough time, Jamacé and her ex-husband decided “to go our separate ways.”
"For two years, I was fine," she continued.
“And then two years after we divorced, my cancer came back at stage 4,” she said.
Before her cancer diagnosis, Jamacé was a teacher, but because of her condition she’s now immunocompromised and can’t work in a room full of kids. In another video, she explained that her cancer is terminal but she is prolonging her life using oral chemotherapy so she can spend her time with her kids.
“I’m on Social Security disability,” she explained. “I make a measly amount of Social Security disability and this is the only place that I can afford.”
"So, um, 'why did I have kids if they have to live like this?' Hmm, did I ask for cancer?" she added.
Nope.
While that commenter might have left a bad taste in the mom’s mouth, we think another commenter perfectly articulated how truly strong and amazing Jamacé truly is.
“Life has handed you some stumbling blocks and you’ve come out with grace,” the person wrote. “Thank you for being you.”
If you’d like to help Jamacé and her family, she is currently receiving donations via her Venmo account: @Jamace-Dickerson.
