TULSA -- A 16-year-old Tulsa, Oklahoma high school student is selling cupcakes to help pay her mother's cancer bills.
“Bring some of the chocolate icing that’s on the table," Tyler McClain said.
The smell of a fresh cupcake brings a smile to McClain's face.
“I know what people like," she said.
McClain said she's made more than 500 cupcakes since March by advertising on Facebook.
“I came home one day and was like, 'mom I want to start a cupcake business,'" McClain said.
It's all to help her mom Talisha, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in March. The 16-year-old's mother was unable to work and forced to make hard decisions.
“How am I even going to go to the store to buy basic things like dish soap, washing powder, toilet paper, food or clothes?” Tyler's mother Talisha McClain said. “I had to move out of my home to a small apartment going from a three bedroom home because I couldn’t afford it.”
The cupcake business is the family's only income.
“The cupcakes are $2 each so I would say maybe $2,000."
Mayor G.T. Bynum's office heard and purchased some delicious treats.
“He told me how at his age he wasn’t doing what I was doing and said I should continue to do what I’m doing," the teenager said.
On Nov. 30, the mother of three will go under for the third time.
“Breast cancer is not a joke," the 16-year-old said. "Now that I know someone who went through it, it’s not a joke.”
Doctors said McClain can't go back to work until January. So Tyler will continue to bake and may make a future out of it.
“She’s saying she wants to go to culinary arts school," Tyler's mother said.
For now, the Union High School junior says she's forever grateful her mom is still alive.
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