Danielle Camacho (shown above with her family in a two-year-old photo), the courageous Ladera Ranch mother of two teenage daughters, passed away July 13, 2010, after a long, painful battle with Lou Gehrig’s Disease (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or ALS).

Following a closed-casket service at a packed San Francisco Solano Catholic Church in Rancho Santa Margarita, a procession led to the El Toro Cemetery in Lake Forest then back to the church for a reception.

One of Danielle’s final wishes was that funds continue to be raised to help her children – Brittney, 14, and Jessica, 13 – finish their Catholic school education at Santa Margarita Catholic High School in RSM.

When the community learned of her fatal condition for the first time in a feature in the Ladera Times, there was an outpouring of help and donations but the funds have run out.

"Our entire family is very grateful for the help and donations by members of the community and no one was more thankful and appreciative than my daughter," said her father Albert Magee, 65, of Lake Arrowhead, who spent most of his time tending to her every need while Danielle’s husband. Alfred, stayed in LA five days a week where he is a firefighter.

Residents who want to make contributions to help Brittney and Jessica finish their educations should make checks out to "Camacho Children’s Education Fund" and mail them to Edward Jones Financial, Suite 205, 999 Corporate Drive, Ladera Ranch, CA 92694.