Warrior Elementary physical education teacher Teresa Delaney is a one-year cancer survivor.

By Melanie Patterson

The North Jefferson News



Teresa Delaney used to be reluctant to tell her age, but no more.

“I’m very proud to be 47,” Delaney said Tuesday with a big smile.

That is because the mother of four and Warrior Elementary physical education teacher is a cancer survivor.

In October 2005, Delaney discovered a lump on her body that concerned her.

So she got it checked out, and found out on Nov. 11 of the same year that her suspicion was true. She had breast cancer.

A mere five days later, Delaney was having surgery to have the cancer removed.

“I have never been caught up in such a whirlwind,” she said.

She then endured chemotherapy treatments from February through May 2006.

After going through surgery, Delaney thought she could handle anything. But she was not prepared for the emotional impact of having her hair fall out.

“Losing my hair was very tough,” she said. “But I didn’t want my (students) to think I was ashamed or afraid to be around people because I had no hair.”

Delaney decided to make it into a game by wearing different colors and styles of wigs to school.

“We made a negative situation into something positive,” she said.

Her openness also gave her students the freedom to ask questions about cancer.

They asked if they could get cancer by touching her. They also asked questions about death, wondering if their teacher was going to die.

Delaney comforted the children by telling them, “I’m here now,” and that she was going to make the best of each day.

“That appeased them and pleased them,” she said.

Delaney, or “Coach D,” said it was her students who inspired her to get through the toughest days.

“I fought as hard as I did because I had to get back to my kids,” she said through tears.

Delaney said that the Warrior Elementary faculty was also a source of strength her during her illness.

“The faculty meant a lot to me as angels on Earth,” she said.

The teachers and staff at the school all bought matching T-shirts that they wore in Delaney’s honor.

Even faculty at another school got involved.

When Delaney was going through the three months of chemotherapy, she could not have caffeine.

At one point Delaney told Bryan Elementary physical education teacher Rebecca Recke that she couldn’t wait to have some coffee and chocolate.

“She remembered that,” said Delaney. “The whole (Bryan) staff sent me a whole bucket of chocolate.”

A year after she completed her intensive chemotherapy, Delaney still is in treatment.

She takes a chemotherapy pill every day and a shot every month. She will do that for the next four years.

But she is not letting it control her life.

“I’m full speed ahead,” she said.

Delaney has been a physical education teacher for 12 years, working the last four years at Warrior Elementary. She taught at Irondale and Cahaba Heights prior to that.

She said she was inspired to become a PE teacher because of the enormous impact her ninth-grade PE teacher had on her.

“That spark was always there,” she said.

Delaney and her husband Scott live in Remlap. They have four children.