‘I felt like a number': Husband’s cancer takes teacher out of the classroom

A Frederick County Public Schools teacher has had to choose between keeping her classroom and caring for her sick husband.

Sabrina Smith exhausted her medical leave in the 2010-11 school year when her husband's cancer diagnosis immediately followed her maternity leave for their third child. She was suspended during this last school year.

School officials told her that her departure would be in the best interest of her fifth-grade class at Walkersville Elementary School, but it had dire consequences for her family. The Smiths filed for bankruptcy and relied on charity to stay in their apartment.

Sabrina has a full-time teaching job in the fall, but because her husband, John Smith, will never be free of cancer, she does not know what now makes it acceptable for her to work.

"I feel like a Jenga puzzle," John said in a recent interview with the couple. "They pull blocks out from under us and wait for us to fall. We need a foundation. A job is that."

The tipping point

John Smith, a longtime diving coach in Frederick County schools, was diagnosed in October 2010 with level four glioblastoma multiforme, the most aggressive known form of brain cancer. A 4-centimeter tumor was surgically removed.

Doctors removed a second growth Oct. 17. As after his first surgery, John remained himself. His personality was unchanged, he walked without trouble, and his speech wasn't slowed.

But this time, there were complications.

Fluid built up in his brain; his doctors thought it would kill him. John had been the family caregiver, but he could no longer pick up his children or walk his dog.

Sabrina stayed home to care for him on his bad days.

On Dec. 22, Walkersville Elementary Principal Stephanie Brown called Sabrina into her office.

"I was told I had one more day of unpaid leave left and if I did go beyond it there were going to be consequences," Sabrina said. "I was floored. I was speechless."

She asked what would happen if she took another day off to care for John.

"They said they would start disciplinary action," she said.

Brown declined to comment for this story, saying she could not discuss personnel matters.

Sabrina tried to keep her days off to a minimum, but John had a seizure Jan. 29. If she stayed home, she risked forfeiting her job and the health insurance that comes with it.

"The drugs (I) take are $5,000 a month, and we need the insurance," John said.

But if she worked, John might have an accident or do too much; doctors had told Sabrina any exertion could kill him.

Sabrina stayed home.

On Feb. 13, she was put on two weeks of leave. After that, she worked as a substitute teacher as often as she could.

"They said I should be able to find a subbing position (with) no problem," she said. "Of course, you don't get paid holidays, and we have a hard enough time making it when I'm getting paid."

The income from substituting was not enough to keep her family afloat. Without help from charities, she would be homeless, she said.

"In my opinion, this situation is so severe that something has to be done here," she said. "I think that it needs to be the kind of thing where they can be flexible."

Read the full article at fredericknewspost.com or download a .pdf of the print edition here.