Her cancer story goes back to 2008 when she was first diagnosed with breast cancer. Fast forward to December 2010 when I first got to know her. I stopped her in the hall at our school one morning because I felt compelled to ask how she was doing, despite the fact that she had been in remission. She informed me that she had just had a scan and the dr had found something. But he thought it was because of her new braces and that he wanted to wait 6 months to redo the scan. 6 months later I once again felt compelled to ask her how she was doing because she seemed "off". That's when she told me that she had just found out that the cancer was back, that it was now in her bones and that the dr was giving her less than a year to live. I was the only staff member that she had told, other than the principal, at that time so I listened as she told me that her oncologist told her that she could not leave his office until she repeated after him, "I will die from this cancer." She said it was the hardest thing she'd had to say in her life not because she was worried about death but, at that point, she was worried about her boys being raised with just one parent. Little did she know that her husband's life would tragically be taken 5 months later as he left an UNR football game (ironically the first one Rob and I had been to....and right around where we had parked our car- only 2 hrs after we had left the game.). I knew Jaimie was a fighter but it wasn't until after JK died that I realized what an inspiration she was. The rest of 2011 and most of 2012 was hard for her not only because of her husband's death but because every time she went to the dr it seemed she was getting more bad news. But she never gave up. She was always so optimistic, even when she had tears streaming down her cheeks. She fought to make sure the man who killed JK was given community service instead of jail time since he was a young man with a young baby who made a stupid, deadly mistake (in case you're wondering he was drunk driving). After she went through a couple months of depression and anger she came back to work. She held her head high and continued to be an awesome teacher. By the time we started the new school year in 2012 we were a Kindergarten team with 3 other teachers- she taught next door to me and we did all of our curriculum planning together. For some reason she talked to me more than even her own teaching partner. Maybe she knew it was because I wasn't afraid to go to bat for her with the principal. (Once the principal started to reprimand her for her lack of attention in a staff development when I told the administrator to back off because Jaimie was having a hard day emotionally and physically.). Maybe it's because I listened more than talked- for once. I don't know the reason but I never took for granted the times she'd open up and talk to me about her medical condition or the trip she was planning for her boys or how she remodeled her house because she couldn't afford to buy a new one but hers held too many memories of JK or how she was training for a half marathon or how one of her boys kept giving her trouble because he was having a difficult time dealing with his dad's death or how she had a great support group of friends and family that would shuttle her to dr appts in the Bay Area and keep her company when she was having a really bad day or how she didn't want to teach for the rest of the year because she felt guilty every time she had to call in a sub (which was a lot). The last time I saw her was at our pediatrician's office last Spring right before we moved. She looked great and was so optimistic despite troubling numbers from her last dr's appt. She was planning on going back to teaching this upcoming Fall because she was confident that the experimental treatment she was trying in San Francisco was going to be a success and because she missed teaching.
Little did she know.....But I can say that she fought until the very end. She gave 110% of herself to fight this ugly disease and she did it with honesty and a beautiful smile on her face. My heart breaks that heaven got another angel tonight but I know that she's happy to be with JK again, her high school sweetheart and best friend. You'll be missed Jaimie. Thanks for being an inspiration to so many!
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