Miyoshi Osorio-Rosa was only weeks away from graduating nursing school this spring at age 49 when she and her grown daughter found themselves on the third-story fire escape of their apartment building, choking back smoke billowing from a neighbor’s apartment.

When they finally made it down and the panic had subsided, Miyoshi’s thoughts turned to another fear: Would the fire derail the past two years she spent commuting five hours each day between her home in Brooklyn and Felician University in Parsippany?

Would it jeopardize the months of clinical work she put in at New Jersey hospitals?

Would it destroy a lifelong dream that was postponed by teenage pregnancy and raising four children as a young mother?

Miyoshi Osorio-Rosa, at left, graduating from Felician University’s nursing program weeks after a fire destroyed her home. “The only thing I could think about was getting through the next few weeks,” Miyoshi said. “I kept telling myself, ‘Finish school and then process everything.’” Read the rest on NorthJersey.com.

Written by Scott Fallon