First Grade Teacher’s Cancer Battle

Tara is a first grade teacher for the Waterbury Public School system. She began teaching in 2003 as one of the art teachers at the Assumption School in Ansonia. She went on to lead the Julia Day Kindergarten program from 2009 to 2016, before moving on to teach first grade in Waterbury. Tara has been passionate about her role - facilitating workshops, mentoring colleagues, and enthusiastically contributing much of her personal time and money to create a warm, loving environment in which her students could thrive. Her efforts were recognized when she was honored with the Teacher of the Year Award in 2019. Always a hardworking single parent, she took on a second job in a human resources role for Splash Car Wash, working 7 days a week for the past 7 years.

In late 2022, Tara was not feeling well and was ultimately advised by her doctor to schedule a colonoscopy. Due to her young age, the procedure would not be covered by her insurance and she was reluctant to take any days off from teaching. When the school year ended, and by then her symptoms had worsened to a debilitating level, she set up the appointment for over the summer. Despite her overall good health and lifestyle, the results confirmed our worst fear - she had colon cancer and would require immediate surgery to remove the tumor, part of her colon, and the surrounding tissue. Still hopeful that she would only miss a few months to recover from the surgery, she set up her classroom for the upcoming school year. Unfortunately a biopsy showed that the cancer had spread into her lymph nodes. Her original diagnosis of Stage 2 cancer was upgraded to Stage 3B and she requires aggressive chemotherapy. She has experienced many complications along the way, including a dangerously low white blood cell count that requires biweekly bone marrow injections as well as biweekly infusions to counteract the damage to her liver from the chemotherapy.

Tara has been relying on FMLA and donated teacher sick days as income. Her FMLA is ending soon, at which time she will be considered an unpaid employee. She will have no income and be required to pay the cost of her insurance premiums out-of-pocket. Due to her compromised immune system and the aggressiveness of the treatments, her doctors advised her not to work until at least 12 rounds of chemotherapy therapy have been completed. As a teacher, she is ineligible to qualify for CT Paid Leave and other forms of public assistance.

Any contributions would be directed toward her health insurance premiums and her growing outstanding medical expenses. Tara is determined to conquer this terrible disease and make a return to her classroom and her job at Splash Car Wash. Your support will allow her to focus on her fight and recovery.