School rallies to support teacher with breast cancer

Six months ago, doctors diagnosed Diane Williams with breast cancer. Within a month, she had two surgeries. Since October, she has undergone daily radiation treatments.

As the pre-K teacher at Holy Spirit School in East Greenbush emerges from her traumatic ordeal, she considers herself lucky because of early detection and quick treatment.

"There is no history of breast cancer in my family. I am the first one to get it," said the 45-year old wife and mother. "My husband and I were shocked and devastated when we got the news."

Waiting

Mrs. Williams' doctor found a lump in her breast during an annual check-up.

"Waiting for the results [of the biopsy] was the worst time, and I imagined the worst possible outcome" she said. "My doctor promised that once they knew the results, they'd call me. But I wasn't home when the call came."

When she finally received the news, it was cryptic: "The surgeon told me, 'You have a little bit of cancer.' I remember asking him, 'Is that like being a little bit dead?'"

The doctor clarified that they found a small lump of irregular, pre-cancerous cells.

Choice

Mrs. Williams was given the option of undergoing a mastectomy (total breast removal) or having a lumpectomy, a procedure that removes just the cancer. If she chose the latter, she would have to undergo frequent radiation treatments to try to annihilate the cancerous cells that remained.

She and her husband, Tony, chose the lumpectomy; "but arriving at that decision wasn't easy," she said. While they debated, their children, an 18-year old daughter and 20-year-old son, were silent, then brooding.

"It particularly affected my daughter," Mrs. Williams said. "She had a very hard time dealing with it. She wouldn't talk about it for weeks."

Summer into fall

Although the teacher didn't tell her young students about the cancer, the staff knew and rallied to help her.

"We found out about the cancer in June, so the summer months were the most crucial time for us," she said. "We were scheduled to go to camp for vacation. My husband wanted to cancel the trip, but I insisted we go. It was what we needed, now that I look back on it. Being together at camp gave us all the opportunity to voice our feelings, cry a lot and make the decision."

Because of the summer break, her students weren't involved, although, she said, "they did know something was wrong and that I was having the second surgery [to look for more cancerous cells]. They were praying for me."

Getting behind her

The entire staff and older students got involved in supporting the family:

* A schedule of preparing meals for the family was set up, and the staff took turns driving her to her daily radiation treatments, and

* In October, National Breast Cancer Awareness month, the faculty and staff participated in the American Breast Cancer Walk, held in Albany, and raised nearly a thousand dollars.

Sister Maureen Moffitt, CSJ, the principal of Holy Spirit School, said, "Everyone has rallied around Diane and her family. We weren't going to let her go through this alone."

Mrs. Williams told The Evangelist: "I don't know what I would have done without the great love and support I've had from everyone at school. They've all helped with prayer and community involvement as well as personal support and inspiration.

"My best friend had breast cancer some years ago. When I told her I had it, she simply said, 'Diane, we're going to get through this together. Cancer isn't for wimpy women. I know you and you're going to beat this.'"

(12/9/04)