The list of hardships that the Yeckes triplets had to endure is extensive. Yet despite those challenges, Sierra, Kassidy, and Haley have overcome a mountain of odds to graduate high school and start college this year.
And they say that they all owe it to each other.
“The three of us have relied on each other as a support system and that helped a lot actually… so, I think if we hadn’t had that, if we were all single children or if we were even different ages we’d be in a different situation,” Sierra told 3 News Las Vegas.
These girls have lived without parents, without homes, and with little food and clothing. They worked jobs to support themselves in addition to working hard in school to get good grades.
“When we were 3-months-old, our mother died and then our dad went to prison and we lived with our grandmother for a while,” Sierra told FOX5 Las Vegas.
Their grandmother didn’t believe in schooling so they didn’t go to school until they were 8-years-old.
That year their father got out of prison and they went to live with him for a while. But he was gone much of the time, sometimes for weeks or months on end, and left them to cook and clean for themselves.
Early one morning when their father was gone, their house got shot up.
“There was three bullets, three of us,” Haley recalls. “It was just like ‘hmmm.'”
After that, the girls then went to live with their other grandparents.
“Although they let us stay with them we were not given food as much or clothing, toiletries, and all that stuff,” Sierra said.
They all got jobs babysitting and at Alberton’s grocery store to provide for themselves. They would wake up, walk to school, walk to work, work until 10 or sometimes midnight, walk home, and do it over again the next day.
“You learn what to avoid, and to follow the street lights kind of thing, and to look over your shoulder,” Haley explained.
Still, the girls each managed to still have a 4.0-grade point average which earned them all full scholarships to the University of Las Vegas.
With some help and guidance from the local community, the girls made it to their graduation day. On their graduation day, the girls were each given a car, a year’s worth of free car insurance and gas, and $5,000 for books and other expenses.
“I’m so excited because we’ll get to live on campus and actually want to go home at the end of the day and we’ll finally have a place to solidly do our work,” said one of the sisters.
The girls say maintaining a positive attitude is what helped them to keep going all these years.
“Just remember – there is more to life than the problems you face today or the problems you face tomorrow,” said Hayley. “There is always something you can achieve.”
Their story has been an inspiration to many who have heard it.
“I think they’re little miracles,” Valley High social worker Sarah Garcia told 3 News Las Vegas. “They’ve had a million reasons not to succeed and a million and 10 that they have been succeeding.”
You can watch their inspiring story below.
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