As scary as it is to think about, there are some tragedies that can change families forever. In particularly extreme cases, children can find themselves losing both of their parents and wondering what’s going to happen to them.
It’s hard to imagine how difficult that must be without living through such a situation yourself. So it becomes almost unfathomable to imagine how one person can deal with the shock of such a tremendous loss and the responsibility of caring for their grieving siblings at the same time.
RELATED STORIES
Yet, that’s exactly the situation one young Florida woman has found herself in for the last four years.
Back in 2013, Lisa Smith died of cervical cancer.
As ABC News reported , this left Alexander Rodriguez to raise his six children as a single parent, but he would soon fall ill himself with lymphoma.
Three years later, the cancer would claim his life as well. This meant that four-year-old Destiny, six-year-old Bella, nine-year-old Michael, 12-year-old Brenda, 13-year-old Milagros, and 17-year-old Samantha would be left without parents.
Although they would eventually move to Orange Country, Florida to be closer to their grandmother, nobody in their family had the resources to help them.
As CNN reported , all were once at risk of getting mixed up in state foster care systems.
But their oldest sister was dedicated to ensuring that didn’t happen.
As Rodriguez said, “I knew what I had to do. I learned so much from my mom. I was like her sidekick. I learned what it meant to raise a family.”
She also worked to care for her parents when they had fallen ill and even dropped out of school to make time for this purpose.
ABC News reported that she finished high school after their deaths to set an example of the important of education for her siblings.
As she said, “I didn’t know people who graduated high school or went college, and I didn’t have that direction so it was hard for me. When I realized that I wanted the kids to finish and that I wanted them to be successful, I was like I need to give them that example and show them.”
Nowadays, Rodriguez works as a waitress and goes to college part-time.
In addition to that, ABC News reported she kept her siblings fed and took them to school, doctor’s appointments, and their sports activities while also helping with their homework and keeping a household.
As her sister Milagros said, “[Samantha] gave up basically her life to take care of us. Sam is a mom and a dad to us.”
But in recent years, Rodriguez hasn’t quite had to do all of this alone.
As CNN reported , the Orange County Sheriff’s Department planned a Christmas surprise for Rodriguez’s family in 2018, whereupon they realized that she had been doing all of this without her own car.
So four months later, the sheriff’s department called Rodriguez back to surprise her with a Nissan Versa provided by a group of anonymous donors.
As Rodriguez said, “It really didn’t sink in until a couple of days after. Everything I plan now for the kids is so much easier. I don’t have to call for a ride. I’m very grateful for it. All these people reminded me I’m not alone.”
After starting a GoFundMe campaign last year, she has also found that others were just as willing to help her out as they have donated $179,562 by the time of this writing.
Last Updated on August 31, 2020 by Mason Joseph Zimmer
