Single Dad Raises 1-Month-Old Baby After Mother Suddenly Leaves

In January of 2015, Richard Johnson, 21, welcomed his daughter Persephone. Within a month, her mother left him and ran away with Persephone to California. She quickly changed her mind, threatening to put Persephone up for adoption if Richard didn’t come get the baby. Richard immediately boarded a plane and brought his daughter home with him — but soon, reality set in.

After the mother’s unexpected departure — which he says was the result of postpartum depression — Richard was thrust into the unknown. He realized how unprepared he was to raise a child by himself. Alone, depressed and terrified, Richard stumbled upon a Facebook group for fathers called “Life of Dad,” which showed him there were other men out there like him — and that it was possible to thrive as a young, single father.

Richard has done a complete 180-degree turnaround, thus saving his daughter’s life. He recently shared his story with “Life of Dad,” who shared it with its followers. Richard’s online letter has since gone massively viral, inspiring millions of people all over the world.

Wait until you see his message to the world…

“Life of Dad,

My name is Richard Johnson, and I’m a single father to a beautiful little girl named Persephone. Her mother left about a month after she was born. We still don’t know exactly why, but we suspect postpartum depression played a part. In the first few weeks of it being just her and me, I stumbled upon your page by accident. I was so nervous and scared about being a father in general, but now I was a single father and had to fulfill two roles. I wasn’t sure I could do it.”

“I had read every ‘new parent’ book I could find and clocked in over 1,000 hours in YouTube videos from everything to braiding hair and painting nails to theories on how to deal with common parental issues. I then started to watch your page more closely and saw that there were other fathers out there who were in similar predicaments as me.”

“The page started to turn into a major confidence booster and really helped me through all of this.