Valeria Pacana

One September a very warm and caring woman was born, Valeria Pacana. She means a lot to many people. Growing up with 8 brothers and sisters she learned to be respectful and loving. As a child she was very outgoing and loved to play tennis. Although her parents would not allow her or any of her siblings to play sports she still played tennis on her free time. Valeria now has 3 children of her own and 2 step-daughters. Having so many brothers and sisters has brought together a big family.

Valeria never went to college, but encourages her children to go. She supports every one of us in whatever it is we would like to do. With 3 children living at home it gets to be a handful. Especially, since we are all in our teenage years. Her step-daughters now have their own places and one has 2 children of her own. Valeria loves when she gets the chance to spend time with all her children. We all care about her very much and want nothing more than for her to be happy.

What makes her a hero is her strength. Growing up she has gone through some rough patches. Losing her mother, oldest brother, and oldest sister was tough but she had her family and her strength to get her through it. No one saw her mother’s and her brother’s death coming, but we all knew her sister’s death was coming. Audriene, Valeria’s sister, was diagnosed with bone cancer and was given 10 years to live. In those 10 tears everyone made the most of the days they spent together. Eventually Audriene got to the point where she needed a caretaker and my mom and her other sisters stepped in to help. Valeria was there every night of every week till she passed away. She helped where she could and tried to keep calm through everything. It was very difficult for her to give Audriene her medicine and to watch her lay there dying with no way of helping her get through this. Valeria is a very strong woman for doing this.

Seeing that go on and seeing how she took all the pain impacted me in a major way. It taught me to be strong and keep my head up through everything. I will never have the strength she has, but will hopefully come close to it one day. In the future I hope to be able to have a caring and compassionate family like she does. Also I hope to stay close to everyone and be close to my siblings and cousins like she is to hers.