Lighting the way for students, cancer survivors
6:13 p.m. Friday, May 9, 2008
"We've got a lot of bags to make."
"We're going to make 200 bags, at least."
For Free State High School art teacher Carolyn Berry and her students, this art project they undertake each year is a labor of love.
"They know that it's my little mission and they're on the mission with me," she said.
It's a journey that started nearly six years ago when Berry was diagnosed with breast cancer.
"I turned 50 and my warranty went off," Berry laughs.
Berry who has a family history of cancer, including a mom who's a 15-year breast cancer survivor, says she was always vigilant about her yearly doctor's appointments. She began getting mammograms in her mid-30s and did regular self breast exams. In fact, she was the one who discovered her cancer after it was missed by a mammogram.
"Being vigilant probably saved my life or made my treatment better," she said.
"Now we're going to clean up."
Now, going on six years cancer free, Berry has found a way to share the tough lessons she learned with her students. Each year for the past three years, Berry's students donate their time and art skills to make these luminary bags for the upcoming Relay For Life.
"Kids like to volunteer," Berry said. "Even just doing a small amount makes a difference and that's what they get out of it."
What does Berry get out of it? She walks past those bags during the Relay's Survivors' Lap, putting one more year behind her.
"I didn't know that it was going to be so emotional and it still is," Berry said. "You've gone through that whole year and all of a sudden you realize you've made it a year. Every year, that trip around is one more year."
And she'll walk past a bag her students made in her honor.
"I'm doing great -- it's good...life is good."
Post a comment
(Requires free registration.)