When Terri Friesen walked back into her Grade 6 classroom after a year away, the students had one burning question for the educational assistant: “Where were you?”
Teaching with Honesty and Heart
“I told them the truth and didn’t sugarcoat it,” says Terri, who has worked with the Catholic School Board in Fort McMurray, Alberta, for the past 16 years. “The kids wanted to know, so I told them I had cancer and went through treatment, and they’d say, ‘Oh Miss Terri, I’m so sorry.’”
Terri was diagnosed in 2024 with stage 3 aggressive breast cancer, which required chemo, radiation, and surgery to remove a lump in her breast and nine lymph nodes under her arm. She’s still managing the effects of swelling caused by the removal of her lymph nodes.
When the kids at school asked about visible swelling in her arm, Terri says she told them exactly why that happens. “They’d say, ‘Your one arm is bigger than the other,’ and I’d explain to them that’s where fluid builds up, and then we’d talk about it.”
Finding Comfort in Community
In her time away from the classroom, Terri discovered the healing power of another kind of community during her one-month stay at Sorrentino’s Compassion House while undergoing radiation treatment. “I loved it there. It was amazing and they treated us so well,” she says. “I couldn’t have done it without them.”
She describes the rooms as private and peaceful, each with its own bathroom and television. But more than the “just like home” amenities, Terri says it was the feeling of belonging at Compassion House that impacted her the most. “It was friendship. It was community. Everybody was going through something, and we could talk about it and share what we were feeling.”
Shifting Perspective, Embracing Joy
Terri says when she was diagnosed with cancer, she was devastated, but since completing treatment, she’s experienced a big shift in the way she approaches life.
“I used to stress about groceries, bills — all the little stuff. Now I’m like, ‘I went through cancer. Why am I stressing?’ Life is what it is. Now I live day by day and I’m more relaxed.”
This summer, Terri’s travelling to visit her older sister in Didsbury and heading to Vancouver to visit her 25-year-old daughter, who’s also organizing a top-secret birthday surprise for Terri’s 50th birthday in September. “When I told her I couldn’t afford a second flight to Vancouver, she said, ‘Don’t worry, mom, I got your flight,’” says Terri. “I’m so excited.”
Terri says there’s also a dream trip to Switzerland in sight, to visit a girlfriend she’s known since she was 18. “That’s on my bucket list in a couple of years.”
Inspiring Young People
Of course, in September, Terri will be back in class with her Grade 6 students, doing what she loves. “I get hugs from the kids all the time,” says Terri. “On the last day of school, I got cards that said, ‘Thank you for teaching me, being there for me and listening to me,’ and I cried, because that’s why I’m there. They love me and appreciate me, and that’s what I’m striving for right now. The kids are amazing.”
