  |
| |
Turning cancer into a teachable moment
Oct. 7, 2004 Under the guidance of drama coach Dora Myers, center, and assistant coach Peggy Hayes, 10th-grader Elizabeth Rose auditions for Shenendehowa's fall play, Spoon River Anthology. The first day of school is stressful enough. For Dora Myers, one phone call changed the course of an entire school year. On Sept. 2, 2003, Myers learned doctors had discovered a cancerous tumor in her breast. The rest of that day was a blur. "I've taught for 34 years and I put myself on automatic pilot," said Myers, an English teacher and drama coach at Shenendehowa High School in Saratoga County . "I knew I had to go back in the classroom to kids who were experiencing that first day of school, and for some, their first day of high school. I couldn't even tell you what the kids looked like." Surgery to remove the tumor was scheduled for October. Doctors did a lumpectomy and removed a very small tumor. They also removed the sentinel node, located above her armpit. Later, "the doctors tested the area around the tumor to see if they had gotten everything and they hadn't," Myers said. The tumor was in a difficult area near the breast bone. "Two weeks later I went in for a second surgery and they took out as much as they could." Myers, a member of the Shenendehowa Teachers Association, decided to share her diagnosis with her students, including those in drama productions. She spoke with the students' parents at open house. "It was a choice that I struggled with, but I felt it was not my way of operating to keep it a secret," Myers said. "The students in my classes were unbelievably sensitive and cooperative and I think it made them behave well when the substitute was in." That October, a large group of students and Shenendehowa TA members completed the American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk in her honor. (See page 27 for information on the walks.) Myers continued working full time, taking a day or two off if she needed to. "Working and having the kids to deal with was a very positive thing," she said. "If I had taken time off it may have been easier physically, but emotionally I would have thought about this constantly. As it was, I really didn't have time to worry about it." While she started a five-month course of chemotherapy, Myers was busy directing the school's fall drama, Inherit the Wind. "The kids in my shows took on more responsibility," said Myers. "These are high school kids. Some have gone through breast cancer with a mother, sister or grandmother. They are able to understand what you're dealing with." A month after completing chemotherapy in March, Myers began a seven-week course of daily radiation treatments. She continued to keep her students informed. "With radiation you lay on a table and it's like an x-ray session," said Myers. "It only lasts about five minutes, but it's very intensive. That fatigued me a lot." During her radiation treatments Myers was still working full time and directing the school's spring musical, West Side Story, which won the Schenectady Light Opera Best High School Musical award for a five-county area. Myers now must take a daily estrogen blocker for the next five years to lower her chances of a recurrence. Her burden was lightened by the support of students — and her colleagues. "I also think I served as an example by facing something that seemed insurmountable and overcoming an obstacle," Myers said. "Sure, life is gonna throw some hurdles, but you're gonna get around them. You have to have faith in yourself." - Clarisse Butler |
|
| | |