PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Graduating from college is always an accomplishment. However, one Philadelphia-area graduate from LaSalle University managed the milestone while raising four kids, and helping another couple begin a family.
Rachel McMahon, 35, is a mother of three teenage boys and a five-year-old girl.
She is also 36 weeks along as a gestational carrier.
McMahon had a degree in human development, and had been doing social work for ten years when she decided it was time to go back to school. Her husband was working, but she says college is expensive.
“When it was time for me to return as a full time graduate student, I needed to quit my job," said McMahon.
"In thinking of ways to make our family finances work out, becoming a gestational carrier started out as a crazy idea that I had of one way that I could make ends meet."
McMahon said she became more fascinated by the idea as she looked into it.
"I see it as a way that I was able to help another family in such an important and meaningful way while at the same time helping myself and my family, to better our circumstances as well," she said.
McMahon says she believes in lifelong learning, for her children and for herself, and others.
"It's really difficult," she admits, "but if it's really important to you, you should go for it.”