Live Action’s latest video details the remarkable story of a man who discovered that he was conceived in rape – and the heroism of the mother who fought to give him life.
Steventhen Holland was eight years old when he learned that his family had adopted him. Though he had a happy childhood he always considered the question – “Why did my mom not want me?”
It wasn’t until after he was married, and he and his wife experienced two miscarriages, that he felt the Lord telling him it was time to look for his birth mom. A search connected Holland with a birth uncle, who told him that his mother, Glenda Sue, had mental challenges and cognitively was around 11 years old. Glenda Sue had become a ward of the state after her parents passed away. At age 18, she was raped by five men, causing her to become pregnant with Holland.
Holland learned that Glenda Sue had faced extreme pressure to abort but adamantly refused. She ran away from the facility where she lived at the time and hitchhiked to Chattanooga, Tennessee. By the time she was nine months pregnant, she was living in a cardboard box behind a grocery store. She placed her newborn baby boy with human services, and he was quickly adopted by the Holland family.
Holland described feeling mixed emotions of both pain and gratitude at learning this story. “The fact that she fought for me and saw value in my life, I’m thankful to be here,” he said. “At that moment I’m just like, ‘Man, she loved me.’”
In a touching moment shared in the video, Holland’s uncle took him to meet his birth mother Glenda Sue in the care home where she lived. Holland sang “Amazing Grace” during this meeting, but he broke down in tears mid-verse, unable to finish — only for his birth mother to finish the verse for him.
As the two were formally introduced, Glenda Sue cried as she embraced Holland, telling him she had always loved him.
“She didn’t see me as a 27-year-old man; she still saw me as her baby,” Holland said of that moment.
Holland previously told Live Action News in an exclusive interview, “The realization hit me that it was a miracle I was alive. My mother chose life despite not being able to care for me. It was a great act of love to let me go so I had the chance to thrive.”
Holland said that because of his story, people’s minds have been changed. He regularly travels to share his testimony and started a ministry, Broken Not Dead, in 2018.
“My mom absolutely is my hero. She valued life… despite the odds of homelessness, mental challenges, and literally no support – she didn’t have one day of prenatal care,” he said.
Holland said he enjoyed 11 years knowing “Mama Glenda,” before she passed away, and he will always cherish that time.
“Mama Glenda, I love you,” he said. “And, thank you. Thank you for life.”
