If you know Anchorage middle school Math or Social Studies, high school football, the Japanese Immersion Program, PTSAs, Migrant Education, Anchorage volleyball, flag football, Girl Scouts, or various other student and child activities & organizations, you probably know the Middleton Family.

Nick & Kehle (Padilla) Middleton give tirelessly to programs at the schools they have taught at (between them: Wendler, Clark, Central, Begich, and Mears middle schools), and to their three daughters’ various sports, schools, and activities (girls attend Dimond High School & Mears Middle School in the Japanese Immersion Program). Their efforts for their students and their girls are consistent and always memorable as they work as a team committed to giving kids quality experiences - from school dances to We The People civics education, and every celebration in between, the Middletons are 100% for kids and family.

For the past couple of years, on top of all of her other responsibilities, Kehle has also been the primary medical support for her mother, who was undergoing cancer treatment. Little did Kehle and her family know that her ongoing exhaustion was not from the multitude of responsibilities & activities she supports - as she often joked – or that she would need the sick days she had used to assist her mother for her own care. This spring, Kehle was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, otherwise known as bone marrow cancer, throughout 75% of her body.

Kehle has taken an extended leave of absence from teaching math at Mears Middle School to concentrate on treatment, and her absence is deeply felt in the staff at Mears and across the student body, as well as across the community programs she supported. She and her family are looking forward to positive results from a stem cell transplant in Seattle, where Kehle will be treated in isolation up to 6 months to protect her immunity while she recovers. Kehle’s leave is unpaid, and the Middleton Family is faced with funding cancer treatment expenses, travel to Seattle for Kehle and care providers, as well as the daily expenses of their family on half their income.

Kehle is notorious among her friends for always going above and beyond, taking on more than we could even imagine, and doing it with style and grace. This family is always there for others and never asks for themselves. Now it is our time to be there for them. Kehle Middleton is the heartbeat of her family and her communities, and we are asking for your support to help raise $50,000 for the Middleton Family as they fight cancer and get Kehle on the road to remission. Thank you for anything you can provide to get Kehle back to being a supermom, amazing teacher, and dedicated volunteer.

Please share among your social groups. Thank you also for keeping the Middletons in your prayers and positive thoughts, and supporting them with normalcy.