Battling cancer is hard enough, but sadly, many other challenges often come along with it. Sadly, teacher Robert Goodman learned this the hard way.
Robert was undergoing chemotherapy for stage 3 colon cancer, but the South Florida teacher had run out of sick days. Completely desperate, Robert posted a selfie to social media as he asked if any teachers would be willing to donate their sick days to him.
Here’s what he wrote:
Urgent Help Now: Battling Cancer Chemo: I work at Palm Beach Gardens High School – I’m looking into a catastrophic leave of absence by the school district but I’m short 20 sick days to qualify for that.
Already used 38 days this year which is all I had left as I was sick a couple years ago and used about two weeks. If I can get 20 more sick days from any teacher or district employee volunteers that would allow me to take more time to recover in battle through chemo for 12 weeks which should be enough time for me to complete at least the treatment so if any of my teacher friends are out there spread the word for me I would appreciate it thank you so much. You can email Human Resources to Juan.diaz@palmbeachschools.org to donate. If not I’ll be reporting back to work on August 6 and I will never have another opportunity to apply for the leave of absence. Thank you all either way for your support during this time in my life.
As life has taught us, ‘if you don’t ask, you don’t get’
The post quickly went viral, and within four days, teachers, classroom assistants, lunchroom staff, administrators and faculty all over Palm Beach County were donating their sick days to Robert. In fact, he ended up with 75 sick days!
Battling cancer is hard enough, but sadly, many other challenges often come along with it. Sadly, teacher Robert Goodman learned this the hard way.
Robert was undergoing chemotherapy for stage 3 colon cancer, but the South Florida teacher had run out of sick days. Completely desperate, Robert posted a selfie to social media as he asked if any teachers would be willing to donate their sick days to him.
Here’s what he wrote:
Urgent Help Now: Battling Cancer Chemo: I work at Palm Beach Gardens High School – I’m looking into a catastrophic leave of absence by the school district but I’m short 20 sick days to qualify for that.
Already used 38 days this year which is all I had left as I was sick a couple years ago and used about two weeks. If I can get 20 more sick days from any teacher or district employee volunteers that would allow me to take more time to recover in battle through chemo for 12 weeks which should be enough time for me to complete at least the treatment so if any of my teacher friends are out there spread the word for me I would appreciate it thank you so much. You can email Human Resources to Juan.diaz@palmbeachschools.org to donate. If not I’ll be reporting back to work on August 6 and I will never have another opportunity to apply for the leave of absence. Thank you all either way for your support during this time in my life.
As life has taught us, ‘if you don’t ask, you don’t get’
The post quickly went viral, and within four days, teachers, classroom assistants, lunchroom staff, administrators and faculty all over Palm Beach County were donating their sick days to Robert. In fact, he ended up with 75 sick days!
“I couldn’t believe it happened so fast. Teachers are always giving all the time. When one of their own needs help they’ll always step up,” Robert said.
I want to thank all of you for supporting me by donating sick days and words of encouragement – it’s proof that love is contagious,” Robert posted along with another selfie. “Today Channel 5 called me to do a story on the love that you guys have graciously provided me. We are in this together and I thank you. I will let you all know when I have confirmation from the district that the sick days have been approved.”
In the end, Robert was incredibly touched by the kindness his community showed him in his time of need.
“Anybody can get cancer, but not everyone is willing to help. We all have it in us, but it’s good to get back in touch with our compassion,” he said.