21-Year-Old Becomes a Mom and a Dad to 5 Siblings After Parents Died of Cancer

Courtesy of Orange County Sheriff's Office, Florida

When Samantha Rodriguez’s parents passed away from cancer within a few years of each other, the 21-year-old took on the role of a mom and a dad for her younger siblings, aged between 7 and 16 years old, to keep the family together.

Samantha, from Orlando, Florida, was just 17 years old when her father, Alexander Rodriguez, died in 2016 from lymphoma cancer. Her mother, Lisa Smith died of cervical cancer three years earlier in 2013. After losing both their parents, the siblings realized that no one in their family could take them all in. In addition, they faced the threat of being split up by social workers, but the determined Samantha refused to let that happen.