Aloha and E Komo Mai

Aloha kākou,

I’m Ash. Hawaii girl, born and raised. I am a mother of 3(1/2) with lots of cats, and I’m married to my best friend. I grew up in a small family home, as a small family. And as I grew up, I was the only child. Although I had half siblings on my dad’s side, and one on my mom’s. 

When I was 14, my mom told me she was pregnant. Before that, she was told from her doctors she might not be able to have/carry children. She was dating a wonderful man, my stepdad. And, they adopted a dog (their son). He was their world. After a year, Gods blessings arrived mom said she was expecting a baby. 

My baby sister was born 26 weeks gestational, so she came 14 weeks too early. She had under developed organs, she had holes in her heart, she just wasn’t ready. But she said it was time, and so it was. When the doctors said to my parents that she wouldn’t live pass age 5, today (July 2020) she is going to be 21 in dec. the biggest most incredible blessing in my family’s life. 

My baby sis lives at Kapiolani Woman’s & Children’s Hospital for the first two years of your life. The gratitude I have for my sisters doctors, the nurses, our families and the outpouring love and prayers - She’s here. And in that time, of uncertainty, I learned a lot about how to care for a PICU to NICU patient. 

It was then, I was inspired by this little human! At that time, my mom was dealing with a tumor that was growing on her spine. That she had to go to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX to get the tumor removed where they put rods into her spine. 

My mom also had been dealt a tough bunch of cards. In the 90’s, she had complete renal failure. She started dialysis. And she was only 26 years old. She was diagnosed with hypertension before that. Well, in 1991, she was able to get a kidney and lived 13 years until it failed. 

Although, my mom is gone now, my sister and our mom will ALWAYS be my inspiration to finish school and get my BSN. I will die trying. 

My goal in life when I become a nurse... is to be sure that I honor the nurses and doctors that took care of my baby sister, and my mom, and myself. I’m not the healthiest goat, and I do have a lot of health problems that I’m getting through. But I will do this.