This year, one of LHS’ staff members was dealt the terrible news of a cancer diagnosis. On February 1, 2024, psychology teacher Shelly Gagnon received her cancer diagnosis for uterine cancer.

“I was sitting in my car at Hannafords when I got the call from the doctor,” Gagnon said, “I was just overwhelmed because not only did I get the cancer diagnosis, but I was also told I was a type two diabetic.”

Once Gagnon received this life-altering diagnosis, she had a lot to figure out in a short amount of time.

“I was going to have only about a month to figure out if I was staying in school,” Gagnon said. “Was I going to be able to go on our February vacation that was planned, which were college tours for my son in North Carolina. I had lots of questions that had nothing to do with the diagnosis but whether or not I could still go.”

With being a mother, Gagnon believes the hardest part of going through these treatments was, “watching [my son] be worried about me.”

“When I told him, within a day I told his friends so he would have a support system,” Gagnon said. “I’m good at being a mom and worrying about him, but being a mom and having her son worry about her, I don’t like that.”

Along with her son, Gagnon had a handful of teachers showing their support.

“I have a core group of teacher friends who were amazing, dropping off cards and checking in,” Gagnon said. “Mrs. Sullivan, Mrs. Prough, Dr. Lindley-Soucy, and Mrs. Johnson to name a few. They were amazing.”

One of these staff members, House 4 Assistant Principal Katie Sullivan, is a lifelong friend of Gagnon.

“Mrs. Gagnon and I have always been friends,” Sullivan said. “I have known her pretty much my whole life. Growing up in Londonderry, she was my neighbor.”

Gagnon has a way of touching people’s hearts which allows for so many members of Lancer Nation consider her to be family which made so many worry for her.

“I personally felt awful because I consider Mrs. Gagnon a part of my family,” Sullivan said. “She knows my mom, my dad, my sister, my brother, my nieces, and nephews so she’s kind of family to us so it hit really hard and I felt that we were going to go on that journey together as a lot of her friends did as we all consider her family.”

While Gagnon had to be out of school for her treatment, she missed her students more than anything else.

“I felt bad for my AP kids because they were left with three months of not being taught the way I wanted them to,” Gagnon said. “I recorded lessons for them but it’s not the way I wanted to teach them and they had to be ready for the AP exam at the beginning of May. I just missed the interaction with them. Once you have a class that’s a year long class, you get to know so much about everybody. It’s just hard to walk away and not have that connection anymore.”

Despite taking on this journey of treatment independently according to Sullivan, Gagnon still had the support of her friends and family.

“She’s a strong lady and she’s wanted to do this a lot on her own to conquer and beat it,” Sullivan said. “Her son, Matt, obviously been by her side 100% and as one of her closest friends, the daily text messages, the uplifting quotes, the checking on her, making her laugh when she’s down in the dumps, encouraging her, reminding her that she’s going to beat this and don’t ever give up.”

When Gagnon told her family the news, they reacted as well as they could have to her diagnosis according to Gagnon.

“My mom, four years ago, had breast cancer so I honestly think she was preparing herself all along because genetically I could get it, but I don’t think she was expecting me to say it was uterine cancer and that it had nothing to do with her cancer,” Gagnon said. “But [my family] has been supportive and when I need something, they help, and when I tell them to back off, they back off and that’s hard to do cause there’s just days when you feel yucky and you just don’t want anybody.”

Now that she’s back in school, Gagnon’s friends have shown her lots of support.

“I love that Mrs. Gagnon’s back at school but I also want her to take care of herself,” Sullivan said, “So everybody who has Mrs. Gagnon in class, I want them to make sure they’re taking care of her because she is a part of the Lancer family as well. It’s good to see her back because her kids love her, the staff loves her, and [I] love her.”

Days can be tough while still going through treatment, but Gagnon is not without support.

“My students last year sent home bags of well wishes and I just appreciate everybody’s support,” Gagnon said. “I just get tired but I’m determined to be here.”

This story was originally published on The Lancer Spirit on September 20, 2024.