Hello !
I've taught for over twenty-five years in an elementary school, and I'm forging ahead into my third full year of teaching since being diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. I'm very connected with all my school kids and give them 100% every day. In the community where I teach, we also have children who are facing a cancer diagnosis, so I am mindful of them every single day.
Today was quite a day ... our guidance counselor taught a lesson this week on "The COLORS Of Cancer" with all of our school kids --- and how various colors are now used to signify the various types of cancer and how wearing these colors can be a form of showing support and solidarity for each type of cancer.
To cap off the school lesson experience, all 500 youngsters plus the teachers in my school wore various COLORS to school today, wearing a special name badge to honor someone in their life facing cancer. Believe me, it was a very moving experience for me ... watching all 500 school kids arriving this morning ... all wearing various colors to honor family, friends, and loved ones facing cancer ... I think every child in my school had a story to tell ... every single child.
I was there to greet them all in the hallway this morning, as usual ... but today I was wearing a light blue Oxford shirt to honor all of you "battle brothers" out there --- light blue being the color to honor prostate cancer, of course --- and showing prominently underneath my Oxford shirt was my "BEAT CANCER" t-shirt ... also in blue. Lots of high-fives, fist bumps, and hugs in the hallway this morning from all those kids when they saw me standing there, as they know I'm in the battle ... it would have made a great commercial for Hallmark greeting cards ... only the best part was ... I was actually LIVING it first-hand ...
So, you can envision me teaching my school kids all day in my light blue shirt to honor all of my "battle brothers" --- with all 500 school kids dressed in shirts of various colors to honor their loved ones --- and many of them also dressed in light blue shirts. Several of the boys in my class came to school today in matching light blue football jerseys ... I don't have the words to express how much that meant to me ... again, a "Hallmark greeting card moment" ... right in front of my eyes ...
At the bottom of this post, I'm going to LIST all the COLORS that are used to signify solidarity for each form of cancer ... I had never seen this list before, until the school guidance counselor shared it with me ... and yes, I have a lot of blue shirts in my collection these days ...
I'm going to go walking late tonight, and reflect on the impact of this school day ... I feel that each CHILD learned something very valuable today ... but so did this TEACHER ...
Sent with my best, always,
Cyclone
THE "COLORS OF CANCER", LISTED ALPHABETICALLY BY CANCER TYPE:
Bladder Cancer = wear the color yellow
Brain Cancer = wear the color gray
Breast Cancer = wear the color pink
Cervical Cancer = wear the color teal
Childhood Cancer (various sorts) = wear the color gold
Colon Cancer = wear the color blue or brown
Esophageal Cancer = wear the color light blue
Head & Neck Cancer = wear the color burgundy
Kidney Cancer = wear the color orange
Leukemia = wear the color orange
Liver Cancer = wear the color green
Lung Cancer = wear the color white
Lymphoma = wear the color light green
Melanoma = wear the color black
Multiple Myeloma = wear the color burgundy
Ovarian Cancer = wear the color teal
Pancreatic Cancer = wear the color purple
Prostate Cancer = wear the color light blue
Sarcoma/Bone Cancer = wear the color yellow
Stomach Cancer = wear the color periwinkle
Testicular Cancer = wear the color purple
Thyroid Cancer = wear blue/pink/teal (tri-colored)
Uterine Cancer = wear the color peach
Post Edited (ISU-CycloneFan) : 11/1/2015 1:02:03 PM (GMT-7)