Sister Raises Five Siblings Alone After Parents’ Death | The View

you're about to leave members of the Rodriguez family who are devastated by tragedy that's hard to imagine but they would not let it break their bond as a family or their spirit here's the story my mom and dad had a very strong relationship no matter what challenges life brought to them they knew how to handle it together growing up we felt very loved very cared for my mom is my role model the most amazing woman I've ever came across unfortunately we found out that she was diagnosed with cancer in 2012 I never really had the chance to tell her how I felt you know I couldn't talk about it because you know I'm a kid so I just kept it all bottled up you know and it's tough sorry the day that my mom passed away I came back to the house and all the kids are crying we just said our good-byes and it was really tough for my dad my mother asked my father to promise her that he would keep us all together and happy and healthy and I think my father didn't incredible job a couple years after my mom passed away my father got sick and you know we just thought it was something like a flu and found out that he was diagnosed with lymphoma cancer even with that be there longer my mom was it's it's so worth it enough time with me to have memories with him a father-daughter dance in school I was really close with my dad because well now me taking back since I'm the only boy in the house for like my dad like you know have my back mostly me losing him my dad passed away that's when the fear of us getting split really isolated we we thought that we were gonna see each other and once other like government officials got involved my reality is I'm 17 but these are my brothers and sisters and when I looked at them I knew that their children they're vulnerable and they need an adult so I became their adult and for school time for breakfast Sam she always told that aesthetic everything was gonna be all right and I'm always gonna have each other and that show is gonna be there for us no matter what Joseph stop going to school and she had to get a full-time job so that she'd be able to pay for those who threw ahead sometimes it could be tight but with the Deaf benefits we get from our parents and my part-time job working as a waitress we make ends meet most of the time she gave up basically her life to take her bus and then once we started going up a little bit she went back to school and finished I can't tell them to be successful in school if I was it so that's when I decided to go back and when I finished the kids were very proud of me and they came to my graduation and it was amazing no one is ever gonna fill the hole in the heart as a parent but Sam tries I try to give them the love that they need and the support they need and I tried to do it for to basically Sam is a mom and that's what the daily schedule can be pretty hectic wake up taking the kids to school I have practice running errands doctor's appointments to pick up all the kids from school we got here it's homework it's cooking we all take showers eat dinner there's days where I don't have five minutes to myself [Music] Sam is giving us like so much work then we could ever like imagine she gave up her whole life for us basically for me it's like this is what makes me me like it makes me so happy to be with them and to be there for them it's like very enjoyable for me Brenda Milagros and their grandmother Lourdes welcome to the very so we read your story we want it really to meet you and I think the first question that I have is where did you find the strength to make that decision that you that you could do this not that you wanted to cuz of course you want to keep the family together but where did that oh yeah and I'm gonna do this come from well I get a lot of that strength from my mother she I spent a lot of time with her and I admired her so much the way the her strength and the way she loved us so much the way she cared for us when we lost her like I knew that I wanted to be just like her in every way and that's what I wanted to do for the kids well done girl well done the other thing that that I want people to know is that you could have got an easier route with all of this you could have gotten help from the welfare system you could have gotten help from all the various systems that are out there but you chose not to do that you chose to do it on your own the way that you're doing it tell everybody why mostly because when all of those things get involved it takes out you know the family as a whole when we do it ourselves we can say and we can we know that we're in this together and we did everything from the start to the finish and that's really why I just wanted to keep everyone together and and focus on each other instead of other people out there because not a lot of people can understand what we went through you know now what life lessons did your parents instill in you that you wanted to pass on to your siblings my parents they showed me strength they given us so much love but the most important they showed us not to take anything for granted you know that's something I try to teach the kids like at the end of the day the material things don't matter you know what what's given can be taken away so fast and you know the only thing that really matters is family and love and support now Lord as your son Alexander was their father and your 76 years old and you rely on Samantha to keep the house running where do you think Samantha has gotten all of this strength from now for our audience Lourdes doesn't speak English I'm going to speak to her in Spanish so that she can understand my question Dona Lorna's su hijo Alexander era el papa hey Samantha Dennis said bent I face a nose save a perfect Linda depending on Samantha para mantener la casa donde donde donde piensa que ya open ido toda esta afuera this woman she said she got it from her mama you to carry your parents while they were el and you ended up having to drop out of high school but then you went back a couple of times back and forth to high school eventually graduating yeah you're now wake up wake it gets it even is even better you're waitressing part-time and you're a part-time student now yes you're a role model to all the kids and to us I think yeah thank you you're welcome and you say it's important for them to see what you're doing including getting an education say it again just so we can hear it one more time I never really realized how important education was until I grew a little older at that time I was dropped out of high school and when I realized I wanted to make it a priority it's when I wanted to be a good role model for the kids I wanted to show them you know a good example show them the direction that maybe I didn't have I didn't know people who graduated high school went to college and I didn't have that direction so it was hard for me but when I realized that I want the kids to finish and that I want them to be successful I was like I need to them that example and show them love here they say you know we admire everything that you sacrificed it and they've given to your family and for your friendly to stay together and we are not the only ones joining us is Heather Updegraff the general manager of vehicle marketing and communications at Toyota Heather take it away thank you would be Samantha when Toyota heard the story about you and your brother and sisters we felt compelled to help you have taken on so much responsibility in your very young life and we commend you for your courage your positivity and your tenacity you truly are an admirable person so at Toyota we believe in giving back to our local communities and helping people move forward in their lives despite the challenges that they face so to that end we understand that you have decided to continue your education at the University of Central Florida after finishing at Valencia College yes so a Toyota would like to support your academic goals by giving you a scholarship of $15,000 wait that's not all that's not all of course that's not all that's so we understand that with the family as large as yours it can be challenging to get around from place to place with everybody together right yeah so I think we have a solution for that Toyota is a mobility company after all yes so I am honoured on behalf of Toyota to give you and your family a brand new 2020 Toyota Sienna wait wait there's what we're waiters there's more there's more stuff happening it's not there but I think Whoopi has this I do have a surprise and I know and I'm trying to we'll be right back oh thank you [Applause]

Channel: The View

Views: 4,077,859

Rating: 4.9273067 out of 5

Keywords: The View, Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Meghan McCain, Sunny Hostin, Abby Huntsman, Family

Id: tUDiAFBatKg

Length: 11min 55sec (715 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 09 2019