LG Teacher Battling Cancer Returns to Classroom
As the kids were heading back to school for the start of the spring semester so was La Grange ISD Middle School 8th grade science teacher Kim Landis.
Landis, who last February was diagnosed with breast cancer, was certainly ready to come back. “I obviously, foremost, missed it! I missed my kids. I missed my amazing coworkers. I missed science,” said Landis. “We also needed the income. The district has taken such good care of me, but I’ve exhausted all the possibilities to continue getting some type of pay. I’m so grateful for the fundraisers my friends did for me to help our family through the rest of this year.”
Unfortunately, Landis was involved in a car accident the day after Thanksgiving and now has since developed a seroma due to trauma from the car accident. Landis said, “My reconstruction surgery was originally supposed to take place during the summer, allowing me to truly be back full time. I’m sadly going to be out again next month. The doctor predicts a two month recovery, but I don’t plan on being out that long. The complications from the accidents will also be fixed when I have my reconstruction surgery.”
Landis who is a self-proclaimed “acquired taste” and goofy, said her new students had to warm up to her, “For a couple of days my students looked at me like there is something seriously wrong with me, but I think I’ve won most of them over by now. I have been so blessed to have some really amazing students this year. I feel so guilty that they have had such a tumultuous year, but they have been so mature and resilient. I know they will be successful.”
Along with her students adjusting to the new semester, Landis is too. “It feels so great being back. It was so hard to be gone. I had all the first-day-of-school feels. I was nervous and excited and so exhausted by the end of the week. My substitute teachers were two of LGISD’s best, pulled from retirement, Ann Raborn and Melinda Dunk. My classes knew the routines and procedures so well when I got here, they taught me the way my classroom was run.” Landis added, “I will still have doctor’s appointments sprinkled in, but other than that I was really surprised how easy the transition has been. It’s like riding a bike.”
Landis also would like to offer some advice for anyone who maybe is going through something similar. “Get your mammograms! Get your first one at 40 and continue to get them every year. If you don’t have insurance, there are programs to help you pay for it. This is one of those ‘it could never happen to me’ scenarios,” Landis said.
“I watch what I eat, exercise, avoid carcinogens, and am relatively young, I should have been one of the last people to get cancer. It really can happen to anyone. Understand that no one is immune.”
Through her own ordeal Landis said her strength not only came from her friends and family but also from the community. “I am amazed by the love and support I have received from this community. I would never have believed it. So many people participated in my fundraisers, cooked for my family (which isn’t easy for a family of six with four teenagers), ran my kids around, checked on me, and prayed for me. I know that my battle would have been so much more difficult if it weren’t for everyone taking care of me. People I don’t even know sacrificed for my family. I can’t think about this without crying grateful tears.”