My name is Dalayna Wallace, and I am currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in education at Seattle Central College while working full time as a Instructional Assistant in a distinct special education classroom through Seattle Public Schools. My experience with cancer has been influential in the way I work in special education settings.
When I was in sixth grade, my mom was diagnosed with Stage III lymphoma. At the time I didn't understand the impact of cancer nor how my mom’s diagnoses would affect me directly. My life became centered around chemotherapy appointments, anxiety and emotional turbulence. Every night I would wake up in a panic and go make sure my mom was still breathing in her sleep, as the oldest sibling I didn’t allow my siblings, or my mom see how much fear I was suffering from. This is when I first experienced dissociation, distancing myself from fear of losing my mom and morphed myself into a survivalist at a young age.
With my mom's chemotherapy paralyzing her, by eleven, I became the caretaker of my household. I cooked, cleaned, bathed my siblings, got them dressed, and supported them academically. As my mom health declined, job loss followed, and our family experienced severe financial hardship. I learned early what it meant to survive without stability, support, or invention from systems that are meant to help families in crisis.
The clearest memory I have of that time came at the start of the seventh-grade year. School was not approaching, and my mother could not afford backpacks or basic supplies for us. We applied for multiple community and school-based assistance programs, but the school year was approaching fast. I felt urgency to make sure my sibling and I had the things we needed. I took the bus to Target, placed a toy chest in a cart, and filled it with backpacks, notebooks, pencils, binders, and journals and pushed it all out the Target entrance without paying for a thing. I carried the chest onto the bus and brought it home. When my mom asked where the supplies from, I told her they were donated. At the time, my only concern was protecting her from additional stress and ensuring her that my siblings and I could start school prepared. Looking back, this moment represents how early responsibility and system failure shaped my development. I learned when institutions move slowly or overlook families in crisis, children step into gaps they were never meant to fill.
Although cancer was influential in my childhood, it did not guide me towards education. What it did was heighten my awareness of how instability and unmet needs follow children into classrooms, and that understanding would help me once transitioning into my career in special education. In distinct special education classrooms, I recognized familiar patterns. Students with carrying invisible responsibilities, disabilities being misunderstood or unsupported and behavioral challenges being met with punishment rather than protection. Special education gave me the framework to understand the link between my personal experiences and how unmet needs, disabilities, and lack of intervention push vulnerable students towards disciplinary systems.
My educational goals extend beyond teaching alone. I am passionate of addressing the intersection of disability, IEP intervention, and juvenile systems. My long-term goal is to advocate stronger protections for students with disabilities and are not criminalized for needs that schools fail to meet. Cancer taught me how fragile stability can be, special education taught me how powerful systems can be when they intervene, together, these experiences shape my commitment to educational justice that protect children rather than forcing them into survival.
Cancer has significantly impacted my life because my mom was diagnosed with stage 3 small cell carcinoma in January of 2022. The most devastating part of seeing someone you love suffer from cancer is watching how it changes them. There are the physical aspects, of course, because chemotherapy and radiation treatment takes a heavy toll. My mom is different after her cancer but I’m different now too. I’ve felt the pressure of trying to stay strong for her and for my family. I’ve felt guilty for the moments of frustration, or even anger, that I’ve felt while we’ve all been going through this. I didn’t experience the physical reality of cancer but the emotional rollercoaster of it has changed me and my family forever. In some ways, it’s made us stronger and closer than before. It’s also challenged us in ways we couldn’t have imagined. My mother's diagnosis of cancer has also affected my educational goals as well. It affected my mental health significantly. It impacted my motivation and power to complete my schoolwork and work my full-time job as a paraprofessional. The only thing that was on my mind during the long six months was if my mom was going to push through her cancer and live another day. I was not interested in my grades or attendance. I remember driving to work one day and I received a text message from my mom. She told me that she was not ready to leave me yet because she wanted to see me become a dedicated, loving, unique special education teacher one day. After that text message, I was determined to be the best college student, paraprofessional, and daughter just for my mother. Ever since I was a little girl, I have always wanted to become a teacher of some sort. I would play school every day with my dolls, stuffed animals, and my mom. She always said that I would be a teacher one day. Pursuing special education has shaped my outlook on life. Our children are our future, and they need to be prepared for the future or they will not be successful in the working world. Teaching makes a difference in them because it gives them tools to help them be successful in the future. I would like to tell you why I would like to pursue a special education teacher and what has led me to this decision and why I want to become a teacher. I have chosen to become a teacher because I myself am a product of someone whom I consider to be the best teacher in the world. Being a special education teacher is a privilege. I am happy to say I get to be part of an amazing group of professionals that are dedicated to learning and growing as teachers. I am part of a unique group of people that tackle challenges with grace and style and know how to hustle when we need to. Special education teachers are a unique bunch; we don’t stop at “no,” and are willing to do anything for our students. Lastly, the amazing part about becoming a teacher is that you get to see the impact you have on your students each and every day. When a child who is resistant to personal touch comes up and gently hugs you, you know you’ve impacted that child’s life in a real way. Celebrating small victories like these in a student’s life can have a large impact on their overall success. This is why I am so passionate about pursuing a career in special education.
