Life Lessons: The Missing Base

A family tragedy keeps a young woman from attending the college of her choice.

By Helen Thompson

Sara got accepted to several great schools—even got scholarships to all of them. But they weren’t enough.

Sara Russell was very young—only 6 years old—when her father was diagnosed with advanced liver cancer in 1994. It was a terrifying time for her, and her older siblings—a brother, 12, and a sister, 17—often helped explain things to her in a way she could understand. “I really didn’t know what was happening to my dad; he was in the hospital so often and he lost so much weight. Even now when I look at pictures of him in those last few months, he is so unrecognizable,” recalls Sara, who grew up in Moriarty, N.M. “He looked so different. I remember him being in pain constantly, and it was hard to see him that way.”

He was in and out of hospitals—including hospitals as far away as San Francisco—for treatment. Sara’s mom always accompanied him, so Sara and her siblings often stayed with their grandparents. Three agonizing months later, he was gone. It was a week before her seventh birthday.

The good news
Fortunately, her dad had health and life insurance—enough to cover the cancer treatments and to help make ends meet as her mom went on to raise three kids as a single, working mother, making the hour-and-a-half round-trip commute to Albuquerque each day. “My mom is an amazing woman,” says Sara. “She worked full-time and made it home every night to make us dinner.”

Adding to their blessings was the tight-knit nature of Moriarty. Sara notes that it would have been even harder to cope if it weren’t for the friendly community. “Even the local grocery store pitched in to help us with food,” she says.

But this just-getting-by way of life would catch up with Sara as she entered high school and realized that she might not be able to go to college. Even though her parents had done all they could to cover all their bases, they’d missed one: Sara’s education.

Taking care of herself
Sara quickly realized that the only way she was going to be the first in her family to attend college was through her own determination. She took the most challenging classes available to her and graduated first in her class, delivering the valedictorian address at her commencement in 2006. And she was accepted by several great schools and even got scholarships to attend all of them. But they weren’t enough, she observes, with frustration. “I really wish there had been some money invested for my college education,” she says. “Unfortunately, even with scholarships, it is still hard to go to the school of my choice because [the scholarships] don’t cover housing—so I still can’t afford to go there.”

Sara ended up going to the University of New Mexico, where she’s enrolled in the engineering program. Her goal is to go on to graduate school, preferably at Johns Hopkins University, and study biomedical engineering. And she’s off to a great start: With her outstanding academic record and proximity to Sandia National Laboratories, she has already landed a technical internship there.

The life lesson
Sara wishes she’d had more time to spend with her father, but she acknowledges that he taught her something very important. “Although my dad’s death was so traumatic for me, I think it has made me a lot stronger,” she says. “It certainly made me think more about my future. I want a good life when I get older, and I’d like to travel someday.”

But she also longs to make a difference in other people’s lives. If, eventually, her research can help someone else not go through what she went through—what her father went through—then she’ll feel truly successful.

This story was made possible through the LIFE Lessons Scholarship Program that LIFE administers. Sara Russell will also receive a $500 scholarship from Advisor Today for sharing her story. For more information on this program and realLIFEstories, visit www.life-line.org.

 

 

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