It all started in fourth grade, I was placed in a classroom with a boy teacher which I did not want a boy teacher because I thought they were super scary, I now know that they aren’t, but me as a fourth grader thought they were. A few days before school started my mom got a message from the school saying that another teacher was going to be teaching fourth grade, she immediately came into my room and asked me if I would want to switch classes, and of course, I said yes. After I got switched classes I knew it was gonna be a good year. The first day of fourth grade was awesome we got to sit on yoga balls and pick our seats, I knew this year was gonna be the best year yet. My teacher was young only about 25 years old, about to be married, and she coached volleyball at the high school. She was energetic, funny, and very outgoing.

Fast forward to eighth grade volleyball season, she sat all of us players down after practice one day and told us that she had breast cancer. This was very shocking to every player, we all had the look of fear and confusion on our faces, we all turned to her wondering what we were gonna do next. She said that she wouldn’t be able to finish the season with us because her chemotherapy and treatment were going to interfere with games and practices. This really affected how our team played, we played more as a team we never gave up because we knew she wouldn’t want us to just give up so easily.

Some of the girls on our team decided to make bracelets and the elementary school, where she taught, decided to make t-shirts and all the bracelets and shirts had the phrases Winberg Warriors and #wegotthis. After about a year, she got good news from her doctor she had finally beat breast cancer, everyone in the town was so happy to get such good news!

About a month after finding out she had beat breast cancer the doctor called and said: “they may have found some more cancer in her body that was around her lungs”. After finding out this news she called my mom which was her best friend and told her all of the news. My mom broke down in tears, shortly after my mom came into my room and told me what was going on. I was so shocked I thought everything was going to be okay and that she was done with cancer. Although I was sad and shocked I thought that if she can beat it one time then she can do it another time.

December 14th, 2018, my family received the worst news that we could have possibly received that night. 4 words that changed my life forever “she has passed away”. She was so close to my family that after it all had happened nobody knew what to do, we all felt like that ray of sunshine in our lives was now gone… forever. The next few weeks after she passed away were the worst weeks of my life, people would pass me in the hallway and ask me if I'm “okay”, I would reply with “I’m fine” but I really wasn’t. Some nights I would just have a memory of her and then I would break down in tears because I knew that would never be able to happen again.

Although she’s not physically with me I know that she is always with me. I learned that you can’t take anything for granted and enjoy all the little things because one day you might lose everything so enjoy it while you have it.