Daniel Foreacre of Lancaster graduated from Millersville University in December with a bachelor's degree in computer science. Daniel, a husband and a father of two, now has his eyes set on earning his doctorate. But in order to pave the road for his current success, Daniel had to overcome a mountain of challenges and came close to losing everything in his life that was most important to him.

Daniel has always known that he wanted to pursue computer science, ever since his dad first brought home a small computer in the early '90s. The computer could be plugged into the television and only ran simple programs, but a young Daniel was fascinated by the possibilities.

After studying computer science in school for a few years, Daniel had to drop out due to persistent health issues. He began working in the food industry and became a manager at a restaurant, where he met his wife, Jenn. In 2012, Daniel's ongoing health problems, later identified as fibromyalgia, made him unable to keep working and he became a stay-at-home father for his two kids. Jenn financially supported the family until she was laid off, and she too began struggling with serious health issues.

The Foreacres were unable to keep up with their mortgage and bills and lost their house. They stayed with friends for some time and did their best to make ends meet and keep their children in school, but they couldn't find a stable living situation. In 2017, only a few days before Thanksgiving, Daniel and Jenn lost custody of their children in what Daniel describes as the lowest point of his life. With all of their other options exhausted and nowhere else to go, Daniel and Jenn came to the Water Street Mission in April of 2018, where they stayed in its short-term residential program.

"At the time, I was still blaming everyone else but me, and I wasn't ready to deal with anything," said Daniel. "I started to change my views and see that I had a lot to work on."

Jenn left the program after a month, and Daniel began to confront his challenges from a different perspective. He sought out additional help from the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, where a counselor advised Daniel that given his interests and ability, he should go back to school. "I realized that you take control of your life by giving up control," Daniel said. "It's a paradox, but it works. I gave up my anger and self-pity and surrendered to the situation."

Daniel left Water Street Mission and moved into a house with Jenn and a roommate, and he applied to HACC, Central Pennsylvania's Community College to study computer science again. He worked as a tutor to cover his bills and began the process of regaining custody of his children. After graduating from HACC with an associate degree, Daniel continued his education at Millersville, where he realized that he wanted to pursue a doctorate in computational neuroscience - the study of using programs to model the brain and its functions.

"It felt so good to just have something worth living for again. I almost lost it all, but I didn't give up," Daniel said.