This Woman Sewed a New Wing for Her Butterfly So It Could Fly for the First Time

If you want to see the true nature of someone's character, see how they treat those who are "beneath" them in some way.

Whether it's in social status, wealth, health, power, or something else, it says a lot about an individual if they assist something that really can't "repay" them in any way.

Which is probably why so many people are in love with this Facebook post by Romy McCloskey.

Romy's mother passed away from cancer years ago. Before she died, she told Romy not to fret, that she'll be with her forever: whenever Romy sees butterflies, her mother said, it's her checking in to let her know that she loves her and she's OK.

Rory, warmed by those words from her mother, began taking in caterpillars she finds outside indoors, away from birds and other predators that may eat them.

She set up a little area in her home for the bugs to properly go through metamorphosis by caring for them and providing the proper environment for them to do so.

And when their transformation is complete, she releases them into the wild.

Romy's helped dozens of caterpillars become the butterflies they were meant to become, but one little insect had some difficulty in the transformation process.

Its right wing came out deformed once its chrysalis phase was complete, meaning that in the wild, this little guy wouldn't make it on his own. 

That's when Romy decided to jump into action and follow a guide she saw online that demonstrated how butterfly wings could be repaired.

She got her tools ready.

She documented the entire process. First, she held down the butterfly with a bent clothing hanger loop, to keep it stable during the procedure.

Then she cut away the damaged wings. Apparently they don't have nerve endings in the wings and don't feel it when they're being clipped.

Then she attached the prosthetic wing to the healthy part of its right wing. It wasn't 100% perfect, but she did a darn good job.

After the wing stayed on for good, it was time to test it out.

Success! Romy's butterfly friend was able to go off into the wilderness, flying all over the place like nature intended.

Romy is a costume designer and does embroidery by trade, so it made the delicate procedure of creating an artificial butterfly wing much easier for her.

She wrote about the entire involved process in a lengthy Facebook post.

I would like to thank my dear friend, Patric B., for sharing a video with me about repairing butterfly wings, so that I could help my sweet little guy. Here are before and after photos, with a bit of explanation under each photo, on what I did to help him along in life <3

I would like to add, this butterfly is 3 days old and was born with this injury that was sustained while pupating.

1/8/18 UPDATE: We had a successful flight! A quick spin around the backyard, then a little rest on on of the bushes... then... "like the down of a thistle "... off he flew! My heart soared with him, for sure! <3 1/8/18

1/9/18 THANK YOU!! I never thought my story would move people so much!😊 for those who don't know me, I am a professional costume designer and master embroiderer, by trade.

I fell into raising and releasing butterflies by accident, really, after finding 2 or 3 caterpillars on a bush on a Milkweed plant in my yard, this October.

I had no idea what to do, other than to keep them in a glass tank and feed them, and wait. Little did I know there was much more involved. So, I read up on them,as much as I could, joined a great group and experienced many losses in addition to many, many more successes.

When this little guy presented himself to me with such a torn and damaged set of wings, I posted about it on my personal FB page. I was, needless to say, heartbroken at the thought of having to put him down. Then a friend sent me a video on repairing wings. I figured, since I do so much designing,cutting and putting together of costumes... I could give this a go. And I'm really glad I did!

Thank you again for sharing this slice of my life with others. It really has been a great surprise!

Romy xo 🐛❤️🦋❤️🦋❤️🦋❤️🦋❤️

P.S.for those who want to see more of my butterflies I do have a public album of the many I have raised this year. https://www.facebook.com/romy.mccloskey...

And for those interested in my other handy work ( my day job), you can visit my FB page to see more: facebook.com/fadendesignstudios 

It's awesome when people do awesome things, isn't it?

 (h/t the dodo)