Florida teacher with cancer runs out of sick leaves, employees all over state donate theirs.
Robert Goodman, a Florida public school teacher, had used up all his sick leaves for his chemotherapy sessions. Goodman, however, was still in need of 20 more additional sick days apart from the 38 days he has already taken off. So, what to do?
The teacher took to social media to ask help from his colleagues from Pal Beach Gardens High School, and they delivered.
Goodman first wrote a post seeking help on the matter last July, asking any teacher or district employee volunteers who would let him take more days.
“I’m looking into catastrophic leave of absence by the school district but I’m short 20 days sick days to quality for that…” wrote Goodman. “If i can get 20 more sick days… that would allow me to take more time to recover in chemo for 12 weeks.”
He added, “If any of my teacher friends are out there spread the word for me I would appreciate it thank you so much.”
His post quickly made the rounds in social media, and in no time, Goodman was able to receive enough sick days for the entire semester.
“The reaction was absolutely incredible,” Goodman told The Sun Sentinel. “I was surprised by the volume of outreach, but I wasn’t surprised that teachers were giving. Because that’s what teachers do, we give.”
According to the report, Goodman was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer just last April. Since then, he has been documenting his journey on Facebook, letting his loved ones see how he is feeling and improving, and somehow giving them hope.
These days, Goodman continues to share upbeat and positive posts on Facebook to sustain the optimistic atmosphere.
There’s a saying that the best things in life are free, but for some, these things are also the ones most taken for granted. But for Goodman, looking up at the skies every once in a while for its beauty is a necessity.
Last Aug. 14, he took to his Facebook to share a video clip he took of the cloudy blue skies while passing by the Intracoastal Waterway.
“So awesome and beautiful,” wrote Goodman. “I needed that!”
