Claudia Sambuco has Feb. 5 circled on her calendar.
That’s when the popular English teacher returns to the classroom at St. Thomas More Catholic Secondary School after two years of vigorous treatment and recovery from breast cancer.
“I think coming back to teaching really gives me the satisfaction that my life is now back to maybe not how it was, but into the direction it should be going, to a sense or normalcy,” said the 36-year-old Ancaster resident who had been on leave from the west Mountain high school since Dec. 3, 2021. “I always wanted to come back.”
Sambuco, who also teaches leadership and design-print, stayed in touch with the school by working on the 2021-2022 yearbook while convalescing at home.
“It was great for (my) mental health,” said Sambuco who did some editing and did some layout and design.
She noted 1,700 copies of the 184-page book have been printed and will be distributed in the coming weeks.
“I feel excited to have (Sambuco) back,” said Gabriella Miklavcic, a 17-year-old Grade 12 student who had Sambuco as her Grade 10 English teacher. “It’s very nice to find a teacher that genuinely cares about their students and puts in that extra time and effort, not just with their school work, but gets involved in personal matters and takes big involvement in their students’ life and (she) defensively did that for me.”
Emilia Connell, a 17-year-old Grade 12 student, said she admires Sambuco’s determination to return to the classroom.
“It’s really sad what she went through but her strength and love for her student has inspired me to be like her when I’m a teacher,” said Connell who had Sambuco as her Grade 9 and 10 English teacher.
“Without doubt, she is loved by everybody in the (school),” said St. Thomas More principal Paul Di Ianni. “It’s fantastic to have her back and healthy.”
Sambuco’s breast-cancer journey began in the fall of 2021 during a self-examination.
“I felt something strange on my left side, it didn’t feel normal,” Sambuco said.
While an examination by a nurse suggested the bump might only be a cyst, Sambuco was sent to St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton’s West 5th campus a few weeks later for a mammogram.
“They immediately found there was something there,” Sambuco said. “The on-call radiologist came in and said they had found a tumour and most likely it was cancer.”
After a few stunned seconds, the tears began to flow.
“I began to cry uncontrollably on the bed there,” Sambuco said.
On Nov. 19 a biopsy confirmed she had Stage 3 breast cancer that had spread into her lymph nodes.
Sambuco said was consumed by sadness and anxiety, but was determined to carry on and continue working.
“At the end of the day it’s the kids, the students here that bring me a lot of joy and help in a way to ease my anxiety and take my mind off that diagnosis,” she said.
Her oncologist recommended chemotherapy and on Dec. 6 she went on leave from teaching and underwent eight rounds of chemotherapy with the last dose on April 1, 2022.
“I lost all my hair, my eyebrows, my eyelashes,” Sambuco said. “I had some nausea, but was really fortunate I had no vomiting; it made me very, very tired.”
Sambuco said she bought a wig which she wore a couple of times and was loaned some head coverings by the Cancer Assistance Program.
Her hair started to grow back near the end of chemotherapy.
But Sambuco’s ordeal had just begun.
She noted blood work showed she had a genetic mutation that increased the likelihood of breast (again) or ovarian cancer.
On April 22 Sambuco underwent a double mastectomy and removal of some lymph nodes under her left arm.
Followup testing showed there were no tumours in the lymph nodes that remained.
After the surgery, Sambuco said she had 30 rounds of radiation therapy over six weeks with the last session on Aug. 12.
There was another big decision to make.
After several months of rest and recovery, Sambuco opted for breast reconstruction surgery.
“For me it was a personal choice,” she said. “To regain what the cancer took away from me.”
The first of two surgeries was done in March 2023 and the second surgery to finish the reconstruction was performed on Oct. 26.
“I feel good again,” said Sambuco said, who added she has been cancer-free since Aug. 2022. “It will take up to six months to fully heal.”
Not afraid to share her journey, Sambuco was the featured speaker at the Terry Fox run in Stoney Creek in September and she encourages young women to be proactive when it comes to their health.
“Women in their 20s and 30s should always do a (breast) self-examination because at the end of the day it was a self-examination that I did that saved my life,” Sambuco said.
“My advice to women is to always be aware of your body, to advocate for yourself, to go and see your doctor when you don’t feel well, even to get that reassurance and to know that (a cancer) diagnosis is initially devastating and at times and at times almost paralyzing, it does get better; know there are better days ahead, it’s just going to be a hell of a fight.”
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