Hello, my name is Kaleanne I and would love to share my story as a student, a mother of four, and a wife to my high school sweetheart. Our journey as a family up to this point, the blessings and trials that have brought us here, and the future I hope my children aspire to.
I am the first within my family to graduate with a high school diploma, let alone a college degree, and one from a world renowned University as it stands. So I ask you to please unite with us in our story to finish what I’ve started, making my dream a reality!

Follow me as I step back in time, and visit us at Radys Children’s Hospital in October of 2009. The worst fear a mother could ever experience as her first born sons' life is as stagnant and pale as his skin, as he is assisted by a machine that forces critical metabolic functions to press on for another hour before several specialist rush to him to revive him yet again.
He was only 3 years old and had never experienced the magnitude of pain the body can communicate just to breathe. It was not until the 3rd hospital visit that finally led to Riley getting here, where a surgeon now stood explaining that yet after another surgery he is unable to do anymore. Riley may loose his left lung, but hopefully he is strong enough to survive now that his right lung has been drained again. Only a few weeks before this pediatric surgeon explained that my sons' lungs were so badly infected that they are more mush than tissue, we came down with H1N1, swine flu. While not life threatening to us or even Riley, the week we all spent fighting the virus left a toddlers’ immune system so vulnerable that the bacteria which naturally coexist within our bodies was now eating away the very organ which allows my son to breathe. See, hysteria had overtaken our hospitals and luckily a seasoned nurse saw him after multiple visits and yelled “he’s pulling!”. This was the transition from concern to the brink of losing our beautiful child. Weeks in the ICU, sleeping in our car, only breastfeeding my 3-month old daughter in the lounge before I had to return her to my aunts’ care due to a hospital-wide lockdown. The best specialized doctors Radys could offer, along with the help of a few vigilant and compassionate nurses, saved my sons' life and was the catalyst for my purpose… medicine!
Even though I also had a nursing newborn at home and was a server, I was going back to school to complete the necessary requirements to become a nurse. My husband saw a mothers’ love and passion as he fully supported me in this crazy adventure from the beginning.
As I reached the end of my pre-requisites with straight A's and at the top of my classes I found myself reconsidering my path. Fully encouraged by my professors, I found myself considering transferring to a University to study pre-medicine.
This was a monumental shift in my academic aspirations, as I never believed I was capable of considering medical school. I had barely passed high school and let’s just say that math and science were not the subjects that floated me to graduate. However, a hunger was forged from this experience of watching Riley covered in so many sensors and tubes, leaving him barely visible. I found a strength within me that astonished even my closest friend, my husband.
My discipline, interest, and sheer determination had opened new possibilities for me to make a difference for my community. I could lead the charge, I have every God given talent needed and my professors’ recommendations were the support I needed to do the impossible. With time, my interest in infectious disease lead me to a BS in Microbiology. I am going to be the very tip of the spear in our species’ battle against organisms that we can only see with microscopes and electron beam imagery systems. My dream is to save lives, just as my sons was spared, and my vehicle is developing battle strategies via the CDC or cutting edge laboratory research.

In addition to being a mother juggling jobs to pay my way through Community College, I volunteered weekly with special needs children at my church, babies in the ICU at the very childrens hospital that helped my son, as well as maintained a very highly regarded and demanding internship at my local hospital.
After so much sacrifice and dedication not only on my part but by that of my children and husband, I was able to graduate with my Associates Degree in Science and Mathematics, and with honors none-the-less. 

Due to my academic success I was guaranteed acceptance to transfer into one of the best schools in the world for Biological studies, UC San Diego.

My Husband was following suit, also as the first to graduate college in his family. He was on the path to obtain an Engineering degree, as he has always wanted to develop a model for his own entrepreneurial dreams. However, he postponed his own studies to support seeing mine through as everything started to crash and burn.
Our only car was now un-drivable and we were already stretched just to pay rent and electricity, so he would gather whatever loose change we could find to pay for bus rides to class. Once this option was exhausted he began riding his bike up enormous canyon hills to get to and from school. His bike eventually broke and we couldn't afford to fix it, so he was then stuck to using my beach cruiser, which also later broke.
Meanwhile, academic challenges in our children’s education required us to homeschool them, not to mention I was now pregnant. With my pregnancies comes the repeated hospitalizations due to my Hyperemesis Gravidarum, leaving me severely ill and malnourished as well as dehydrated due to nonstop throwing up from the plus sign of a pregnancy test to the moments up to delivery.
Yet I have managed to maintain my status as a UCSD student, not through one but two challenging pregnancies. I have overcome my own physical and mental obstacles to pursue my degree while being a mother to two babies under two years of age whilst also keeping my 10 and 7-year-old engaged in their dreams, as I hope to be a role model to them in their endeavors.

A year without a car revealed a few extra surprises, such as using bikes to transport our groceries from the store to our refrigerator and pantry. While few things are more difficult to accept then a 3-year-old helping with this process on her tricycle, our children loved the time we shared and knowing that their sweat and exhaustion directly contributed to having food for the entire family to eat.
Consequently, our kids also had to deal with the realities of these hardships in the form of learning about the non-existence of such things as Santa and the Easter bunny. While they have had a sense of innocence stripped of them that I would have preferred they did not have to experience, it has contributed to their growth into such wonderful, appreciative, and compassionate kids. I don't believe they could have gained these qualities to this extent if it weren’t for these many humbling experiences we have made the best of.
In this we have still managed to teach them to participate in charities, help the homeless, and participate in church community service projects. It has become second nature to them to overlook materialism, as we have maintained seeing the positive in every situation and at the end of the day they understand it all comes down to perspective and family.
They had so much joy when we were finally able to afford a car, even though it was an older car off of Craigslist. Or the excitement from their Christmas gift of a trip to the snow, thanks to some amazing people who blessed us with gift cards for the trip to our local mountains. It was here we spent the night at over 8000ft crammed in our car so they could experience the 12+ inches of fresh powder the following morning because we couldn't afford a hotel or the additional fuel to drive home and return for a second day. Yet, these are some of our most cherished moments as a family that we have come to embrace.
Essentially, these amazing children have developed a level of character, appreciation and love for life that is unsurpassable and infectious. When it comes down to it I know they will be okay, just as we will.

Now I request your help, as we have a new mountain to traverse, one we can’t see finishing without the generosity of those called to do so. With an extended timeline I have exhausted my grants and loans. We have learned that we were overpaid and are already in a deficit for this quarter alone. We no longer have a means to cover tuition, let alone the rent for the family housing at UCSD for the remainder of my course requirements. All of our sacrifices, missed moments tucking my babies into bed, and sleepless nights could be lost by insufficient funding of which would get us through to September, at which point I will be finished and graduate with my degree.

With the cost of childcare far exceeding any possible income my husband could attain and my workload in addition to being a nursing mom and student, we have no idea how we are going to pull through this one as rent alone is a cause for concern next month. We were even considering trying to find a camper to live in until I am finished with school and have a job and its location secured as we cannot afford to live in San Diego, California and have no idea where will live or even where I will be working.

This is our last ditch effort, we have been humbled as a family and have overcome so many obstacles. Yet, the one thing I pray is that we just have a roof over our children’s head, and that by me graduating they can see that anything is possible if they really want it and stay dedicated.

May God bless you as he has us, and thank you for taking the time to read a little piece of our story.

Know that any contribution is so greatly appreciated, more than you will ever fully understand, and your generosity will always play a role in our family story now and for generations to come.