Mechele Kaericher, 36, a mother of three children ages 14, 12 and 4, spent last night with her children in Motel 6 eating tacos from Del Taco, the night before it was pizza from a cardboard box. Kaericher and her children have been living at Motel 6 for several weeks.

There was a time in her life when she and her family lived a much better life, but cancer ravaged it and nearly killed Kaericher in the process.

When she was just 32 years old, Kaericher was diagnosed with breast cancer and several weeks later she learned she was pregnant with her now 4-year-old daughter.

By April of 2013 the tumor in her left breast had grown to five inches long and two inches wide. She underwent intensive chemotherapy from April to August in 2013 and on Jan. 24 of this year she had a double mastectomy. Since the procedure she has been freed of cancer’s icy grip, but its affect on her life continues.

As her cancer grew inside her, Kaericher and her children moved from Hayward, where she and her family rented a nice home and she worked at a storage facility earning a quality income combined with her husband, who she is now separated from, back to her hometown of Turlock.

“I didn’t know what was going to happen to me, I thought I was going to die and I wanted my children to be surrounded by family,” Kaerichere said. “My mother, brother and cousins live here and this is where we needed to be.”

Recently things have begun to turn around for Kaericher and her kids, who attend Pitman High as a freshman and Turlock Junior High as a seventh-grader.

On July 24 she obtained full-time employment at a local storage facility and she was able to purchase a used car, but she and her children have not been able to save enough money for a house or apartment.

“Right now everything coming in is going right back out and I am paying for the hotel room,” Kaericher said. “Everything is moving in the right direction but it’s hard to save for first and last month plus deposit when you have three mouths to feed.”

Mechele started a Gofundme page and has asked for $3,500. As of yesterday 10 people have donated $410 in four days.

“I am extremely embarrassed to have to ask for help publicly, but at this point the holidays are coming up and I’d love to make dinner for my family in my own home,” Kaericher said as her tears began flowing.

Mechele explained that her husband and her are separated, but he is unemployed and does not provide financial assistance to her or the children. However, he is involved in their lives.

“I am usually not the one to put my personal business out there like this and ask for charity, but at this point, I need to do what I have to, to get my kids settled once again. So that they do not feel so displaced,” Mechele wrote on her Gofundme page.

To donate to Mechele visit http://www.gofundme.com/erkqk4