A letter obtained by KING 5 gives insight to Cascade Mall shooting victim Sarai Lara’s life goals and dreams.
The 16-year-old Mount Vernon High School student was one of five people shot to death by Arcan Cetin at Cascade Mall last Friday.
Her family described Lara as a sweet, caring young lady. In a “Getting to know me” assignment for her sophomore socials studies class, Lara wrote that she dreamed of becoming a doctor or a nurse so she could help others.
She wanted to get married to “the right person,” become a mother, and have a beautiful home.
“That’s all I want,” Lara wrote.
Lara wrote that she was close to her family, especially her mother, who stayed by her side while she underwent medical treatment. A cancer survivor, Lara had spent nearly one year in the hospital.
“The best time of my life was when the doctor told me right after surgeries that he got all the tumor out,” Lara wrote. “that i’m a cancer survivor, I beat cancers butt. (sic)”
Rod Merrell, Lara’s social studies teacher, said her words haunt him.
“Now you know that reality is never going to happen,” Merrell said. “It's tough."
Read Lara’s complete letter to Merrell:
One goal I have for 5 years from now is to already be in college and studying for my career . I expect to get at least a B+ or A because i’m a hard worker and finish all my homework, or at least do as much as i can on my own. I am interested in the career of medicine, I really want to become a doctor or nurse and help people. When i’m older i only want to get married once, with the right person and never get tired of each other and have at 2-3 kids, and do really good in life, have a beautiful house, have a good job hopefully medicine and just be happy. That’s all I want.
The person I respect is my sister because she’s always said no matter the situation you're going in life right now, never let get you down, always stay up and most importantly always do good in life. And also my mom, she never left my side when I was going through a tough time, she stayed with me when i needed her the most and I really appreciate how she’s the one that stayed the nights everyday when i was in the hospital for almost a year, of all my family members, she the one that been through it all with me. And I thank her so much that i had the most important person by my side. The worst time in my life was when I was getting scans done for my left knee and got the results that I had a tumor on my knee, as big as a tennis ball. The best time of my life was when the doctor told me right after surgeries that he got all the tumor out, that i’m a cancer survivor, I beat cancers butt. Something else to let you know is out of my family members like my siblings and parents, my older sister and I are the only ones that came out with colored eyes. We got them from my mom's dad. They can change colors, they either blue or green.
Sincerely,
Sarai Lara
