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Battling an unseen foe Why AFT President Feldman is joining NYSUT in the fight against breast cancer  October 8 , 2003 AFT President Sandra Feldman, a proud graduate of the New York City public schools, became a teacher in NYC after earning degrees from Brooklyn College and New York University. A lifelong civil rights and union activist, she rose from the ranks to serve as UFT president, a post she held from 1986 to 1997, when she was elected AFT president. (for more, see Sandra Feldman biography below.) FOR MORE INFORMATION: nysut.org/makingstrides SEE ALSO : Sandra Feldman biography Just before 5 p.m. one recent Thursday, as most of the working world starts packing up their desks, Sandra Feldman strides into her Washington, D.C,. office as though it is the start of the day. Feldman has just returned from Capitol Hill, where she made a personal visit to lobby on a key bill. It's another challenge for Feldman, who has made her life's work advocating for social justice, public education and access to quality health care. A longtime member of the Board of New York State United Teachers while leading the United Federation of Teachers in New York City, she is president of the American Federation of Teachers, NYSUT's national affiliate. When Feldman's life was turned upside down with a breast cancer diagnosis a year ago this month, it was no surprise to anyone that she came out swinging. Now she is cancer-free and committed to helping others. Feldman will participate Oct. 19 in New York City in the American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk, an event for which NYSUT is the proud flagship sponsor. The union is dedicating the walk this year "in honor of Sandy," notes NYSUT First Vice President Antonia Cortese, who heads the initiative. Below, Feldman talks with New York Teacher reporter Betsy Sandberg: When were you diagnosed? October 2002. It was a routine visit to my gynecologist. I was scheduled for a mammogram later because I group all my exams together. That confirmed it. What happened then? I found every book I could and talked to people who have been through breast cancer. I learned everything there was out there to learn. Of course it was wonderful having good doctors and union health benefits. But I was particularly helped by other women who'd gone through breast cancer - women who had gone through what I'd be going through, even the particular regimen of chemotherapy I was about to go onto. These women who, for better and worse, were willing to share their experiences were a tremendous help to me. That's especially why I will be walking with NYSUT. I want to be part of a group that helps other women get through this. NYSUT is honored that you've agreed to participate in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk in Central Park on Oct. 19. Last year NYSUT members helped raise more than $500,000 statewide. Raising funds for research is extremely important. Breast cancer is in effect curable as a result of the research, and as a result of the tremendous effort made by a lot of people to raise the funding and to exert the pressure needed so that the research gets done. While I was someone who was very much on the side of doing that before, when you are personally hit by it, you feel you have an obligation to be part of the solution. You mention breast cancer is curable. What options did you take in fighting your cancer? I had a lumpectomy in November and I did chemo from December through March and after that I did radiation ... I chose the most rigorous course of treatment because I wanted to get through it as quickly as possible. What sustained you? I had all my family behind me and my husband was superb, taking care of me ... and there's no question about it: I was sustained by staying connected to all the people who are so important to me and by hearing from people on a regular basis who were really great, who told me I could do it. That made me feel optimistic and happy, combined with all the support from my family - you see, the union is my family too. How did the union family respond? I heard from members who just wanted to wish me well - people from all over the country who wrote,'You don't know me, but of course I know who you are. You've done so much for us in the union and we want to let you know we're all thinking of you.' I received extraordinarily helpful little gifts and wonderful cards that comforted me. It makes you realize that you're part of a large group of people and, when that group is pulling for you, it makes a very huge difference. Also, there are a lot of women in the union who'd been through breast cancer. Many, many of them wrote me about what they'd been through, how they had gotten through it. We're talking long and detailed letters, telling me'Here's how I felt 15 years ago, 10 years ago, two years ago. And I know you're going to be fine.' Those letters gave me tremendous hope as well as the expectation of what would happen. That's why I'm so willing to talk about this, because there are traumatic things that happen. While it's important to get advice from the medical professionals, there are all sorts of other things that happen to you that only other women who have been through it can help you with. Like losing your hair? Oh yes! I was totally bald. But I was prepared for it. I knew I was going to lose my hair and again, it was women who gave me the advice on where to go for a wig and what would work. They told me to cut it short and to shave it off when it started falling out. They told me to shave it off because it would be less traumatic that way since I'd be in control - and they were right. What else? Advice on what you can eat. That I should eat anything I felt like, even if I didn't normally eat it. If you can get a cheeseburger down, eat it. I love chocolate. A lot of people sent me big baskets of chocolate. Are you saying you'd eat a whole basket of chocolate? Oh no, but I didn't stint on it. What advice would you give your union sisters? Get in control of it. Talk to people. Besides all the things I've already mentioned, another reason why it's so important to hear from people who've been through it is that you get the message you can beat it. You know you're going to get through it and now you can focus on living your life. Know that exercise, any exercise, even if it's only 10 or 15 minutes when you'd normally do an hour - even if it's just a slow walk around the block - will help your energy level. Know that when you're going through something life threatening, being in control can make all the difference. When you spoke at NYSUT's annual convention, you thanked people and then said 'Now it's time to get back to work.' But you never stopped working. I did work. But there's a big difference between going through chemotherapy and being at work, and then being finished with it and feeling your strength coming back and knowing that now you're really going to get out there and fight, and that's what I was saying: That I'm all back now. Also, I might have been saying, enough of this sentimental stuff and let's get back to work. How did you balance the incredible demands of work with your personal health care needs? In my job there's a lot of travel and I curtailed that. I used the phone, e-mail and fax more, and a lot of people came to see me where I would otherwise have gone to meet them. Maybe I didn't balance it so well ... I worked full days and sometimes I ended the day kind of breathless. But I had so much support and help I felt I could do it. Everyone has to decide for themselves what they can and can't do. When you spoke to the United Federation of Teachers executive board recently, you said all the support helped you through the 'bad days.' What were those like? On the days after a treatment, when you really feel like you can't drag yourself anywhere, I outfitted my guest room as an office with a computer, the phone, the fax machine, a speakerphone, so that I could work from there. On days I felt well, I got on the train and came into the office. I had nurses who looked in on me often. They would tell me,'You know, you could take some time off. You could take six months off and people would understand.' But there was just too much going on and I wasn't about to do that. But there is no universal advice on something like that. And most women are not in the position where they can take the time off. The union has long advocated for full staffing at hospitals and health care facilities. How has your personal health crisis enlarged and enriched your perspective? I had wonderful doctors. I had a wonderful surgeon. But it was the nurses who sustained me. It was the nurses who I could call anytime of the day or night with questions, if I felt there was something I wasn't sure about. And it was the nurses, after all, who administered the chemotherapy. This was the bird's eye view. I saw nurses administering to very sick patients, over a wide spectrum of illness, and I saw nurses who needed roller skates to keep up with everything that was asked of them. What did you experience firsthand? When an oncology nurse has to search for your vein and is feeling under pressure because a patient is calling because her IV drip alarm has gone off. Your heart is in your mouth, as I'm sure her heart was in her mouth. She handled it very professionally, but it shouldn't be that way. Understaffing has a direct effect, a direct impact on patients. I felt it directly. For decades, the AFT has been in the forefront fighting for adequate health care coverage. What are your thoughts on the health care crisis in light of what you've been through? It just breaks my heart to think there are so many people who don't have access to medical care they need. It's criminal in a country as wealthy as this one that - while we're second to none in medical expertise and technology - we're way behind in making health care and health insurance affordable for working families. One out of six Americans has no health insurance. We're approaching almost 50 million people who are uninsured. One quarter of them are children. Educators as well as health professionals and parents are particularly concerned about that. Also, while I was going through this, it helped me to have some flexibility. That only solidified why we have to fight for laws that provide more flexibility for families. This crisis also impacts many things we advocate for - such as better staffing ratios, and better salaries and conditions for health professionals. As a nation, we're facing serious issues, such as the continuation of Medicare and Medicaid. And of course, we're fighting for a budget that will adequately fund education. But that's who we are as an organization. We are the AFT and we are going to continue to be in the forefront fighting these issues. Sandy, thank you for the interview. We'll see you at the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk on Oct. 19. I'll be there. Sandra Feldman Biography The view from AFT President Sandra Feldman's Washington, D.C. office overlooks New Jersey Avenue and culminates with the Capitol dome. Her years as leader of the United Federation of Teachers are well-represented on the walls, whether it's a 1989 photo of a New York City rally or the Charles Cogen teacher award presented her by the UFT in 1998. A framed stethoscope presented
to Feldman on the 20th anniversary of Federation of Nurses and Health Professional
from1998 is next to a framed photograph of NYSUT President Tom Hobart honoring
Feldman and NYSUT First Vice President Antonia Cortese as the first recipients
of the Not For Ourselves Alone Outstanding Leadership award in April 2002. A 1995 photograph of Soweto children, taken by her husband Arthur H. Barnes, hangs underneath a framed poster of UFT Celebrates Harlem Week '97. A self-described "kid from Coney Island," Feldman grew up in a city-owned slum in Brooklyn that was condemned for all the years she lived there. She has often spoken of the transformative power of the public education she received in the city's public schools. At Brooklyn College, which she was able to attend thanks to free tuition, she met civil rights leader Bayard Rustin, which she called a watershed moment in her life. She was active in the early civil rights movement, both locally and nationally, and was arrested twice during the Route 40 Freedom Rides and other protests in the 1960s. After earning a master's degree in English
literature from New York University, Feldman began teaching fourth grade at PS
34 in Manhattan, where she became a UFT activist, eventually following in In May, 1997, she again followed Shanker to be elected president
of the American Federation of Teachers. She is the 15th president of the million-member
AFT and the union's first female president since 1930. She also serves on the
Executive Council of the AFL-CIO, is vice president of Education International
and serves on many community, civic and educational boards. |
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