West Virginia University - News and Information Services
Future educator teaches classmates lesson in courage
WVU student battles back from cancer, earns degree
Maria Sylvester is full of life. She enjoys hanging out with friends and cheering on the Mountaineers at football games. She loves children and hopes to become a kindergarten teacher.
Pretty soon she’ll don a cap and gown for West Virginia University’s Commencement. Look for the Charleston native in the crowd of master’s teacher education grads. They’ll be the ones wearing ribbons that say “courage.”
That’s for Sylvester, a vivacious 23-year-old with a smile and laugh that are contagious. You wouldn’t know it by just looking at her, but a year ago, she was battling cancer.
It was a fight she was determined to win.
At age 22, with no history of major medical problems in her family, cancer was the last thing on her mind when she began feeling sick in December 2006.
“At the time, I was working with third grade students,” she said, “and I just thought I had the flu. I didn’t think much about it until I found the swollen lymph node – and I got scared. Friends told me not to worry about it, and I would be fine.”
But a few months later, the usually energetic young woman was diagnosed with Stage II Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
That’s the cancer with symptoms including swollen lymph nodes, persistent fatigue, fever and chills and weight loss. As the disease progresses, it compromises your body’s ability to fight infection.
She would need to get a biopsy.
“When they told me, I wasn’t surprised,” Sylvester said. “It was an intuition thing. My parents were there right after I found out and said, ‘What are we going to do?’
“Luckily, one of my mom’s good friends was a radiational oncologist, so he was able to tell us that Hodgkin’s lymphoma was curable,” she said. “It put us at ease that first day.”
But Sylvester’s life – filled with friends, classes and activities, all the “normal college stuff” – was soon disrupted by regular doctor’s visits, vaccinations and chemotherapy.
She started chemo in late June, getting treatments every other Monday.
“That was probably the worst part – those three hours. It wipes you out,” she said. “I would bounce into the clinic and need help out.
“That’s the only time I actually felt like I was a cancer patient. I was 22, and everyone else (at the clinic), for the most part, was older. I’d go home and sleep 12-18 hours.”
There were “10 pretty good days” in between – and hair loss. The reality of cancer sunk in after the second treatment.
“I went through the first treatment, and I thought this isn’t so bad,” she said. “But after the second treatment… Luckily, my dad was there to tell me it (the hair loss) would be fine. When I was diagnosed with cancer, my hair was at my shoulders.
“It wasn’t what you think chemotherapy is going to be like,” she said. “It was tough, and I was thinking, ‘Why do I have to do this?’ But after those first initial days of treatment, I was back to living my everyday life.”
Her everyday life included student teaching nearly two dozen kindergartners at Blackshere Elementary School, just outside of Fairmont.
“In July, I drove up to WVU to speak with the director of my program to see if I was going to be able to come back,” Sylvester said. “I wasn’t going to stay at home when I could be up here; it just wasn’t an option. I wanted to come back as soon as possible. They said they would work with me 100 percent – whatever I needed.”
Every other week, she would drive to Morgantown to go to class and student teach.
“With no immune system, doctors weren’t jazzed about me being around 22 kindergartners,” she said.
Sylvester took precautions, including injections to keep her immune system up.
“I was very worried going into it – the way I looked physically,” she said.
When she started teaching, she had most of her hair. But when it started falling out, she opted for a baseball cap.
“There was never a question; it wasn’t an issue for the kids,” Sylvester said. “even when one of the students wore a hat into the school, and I asked him to take it off.
“We did talk to the students to make sure they washed their hands and covered their faces when they sneezed or anything like that,” she said. “They were very good with that, so I never was worried about getting sick.”
Sylvester’s last chemo treatment was in early October. She started radiation a month after that, which continued through the beginning of December.
During that period, she took three weeks off from school.
“All of my friends were really supportive and helped me stay positive,” she said. “‘You can get this done,’ they kept telling me.”
With most of her coursework done, Sylvester took a class that met only once a week – often online. Through it all, she tried to keep a positive mindset and leaned on her parents and friends for support.
“The main way I got through all of this is my family,” she said. “They treated me like Maria – not any different. I was just the same old person.
“And that was the same with my friends,” she added. “A lot of my friends didn’t know when I came back to school. I had a hat on my first day back to school. I don’t think people even fathomed anyone – me – having cancer, but after the shock wore off, they were really awesome and wanted to know if there was anything they could do for me.”
Just like other typical college students, Sylvester went to football games and socialized with her friends.
“It was just like normal,” she said. “It wasn’t perfect. Some days were a little rougher. No one can be perfect. There’s no such thing as a perfect cancer patient.”
Sylvester said this experience has taught her an important lesson.
“It’s taught me to be empathetic,” she said. “It’s changed the way I teach. Everything happens for a reason. It’s helped me, in my opinion, to grow as a teacher. If one of my kids comes to me with someone they know who has cancer, I’ll be able to relate to them.”
Sylvester has been in remission since August. She will continue with regular doctor’s visits and remission tests.
“We’ll see how it goes,” she said. “Hodgkin’s lymphoma has a really low percentage for relapse. Right now, I’m very positive. When things like this happen, you deal with them.”
Since battling cancer, Sylvester has taken an active role in raising money for cancer research through WVU’s Relay for Life.
As for those ribbons that say “courage,” the WVU grad is quick to point out that they honor everyone who is affected by cancer.
“My very close friends have dealt with cancer and are dealing with cancer in their families right now,” she said. “I don’t know everyone’s story and how they’re connected to cancer, but I think it’s just a great reminder of their courage on one of the greatest days of our lives.”
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