February 25, 2012

So I made a visit on Friday afternoon that really brought a reality check to my life. We have a student in our sixth grade this year whom has recently (within the last week and a half) been diagnosed with cancer, specifically non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma T-Cell. Talking with them, if I do my math correctly, he is among a small 0.2%. Only 2% of non-Hodgkin's cases are the T-cell, and only 10% of those cases present themselves in children. Leave it to this boy to find the rarest way to do something. That was his style with just about everything, so why not with this too?

I spent about an hour at his house talking with him and his mom. The two of them both seem in really good spirits about the whole adventure. He still seemed to have quite a bit of energy and his mom said his appetite is coming back. She's stocked up on his cravings, pizza bites!

With all things considered, the family seemed to be doing well so far. For privacy sake, I'm not going to mention any names here on the web, but your students should be able to fill you in with it. All I ask is that you keep him and his family in your thoughts, prayers, well wishes, whatever you do. And for you buddy, just know that we're here supporting you, teachers and students, and if you need anything, you're just around the corner from us.

On Friday, our class took some time to make and send him those well wishes and show him that we were here to support him. Below is a picture of what I delivered from our kids as I stopped in to make my visit.
As I said, this whole experience has made me reevaluate what's important. I just want to relay to you how much I care for your students. They and I may not always see eye to eye, but that's my job as a teacher. If someone doesn't leave upset from time to time, I'm not doing what I set out to do; I'm not making the difference I set out to make. I did not take a single card this week. I don't know if it's because their behavior was that much better, or because I didn't sweat the little things, but really, are the little things worth sweating? Not in this instance. There are bigger things in life than the ocassional talk out.

Just a few notes on what's going on in class. Science fair is quickly approaching. I believe we're less than two weeks out, so make sure your students are on top of it. Book reports are coming up within the next couple of weeks as well. The year is moving along so quickly. I'm having troubles believing we're well beyond half way at this point. Only about 3 months left.

I'll leave you with the quote we have written in our big card up there because it's relavant, specifically to him, but really for all of us.

"Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference. Never, never, never give up." ~Winston Churchill