A member of the Upper School community for ten years, French teacher Antoinette Gathy has resumed teaching after taking a semester off to treat her nasopharyngeal carcinoma, a rare cancer that infects the nasal passages.

Having suffered from headaches and continual ear infections, Gathy was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal cancer last July and began a six-month radiation and chemotherapy treatment, which was completed this month.

Gathy was treated by two oncologists, and according to her first radiation therapist, she had a rare cancer that the Kaiser Permanente Hospital has only seen once before. Hospitalized at Kaiser, Gathy was informed by another chemotherapist that her illness may have been a result of smoking. She began smoking when she was 20 and finally quit after the diagnosis in July. Gathy had received numerous cards, flowers, and letters of encouragement from colleagues and students.

For the first semester, Sabine Dazin taught all of Gathy’s French classes and helped her transition back into the classroom.

“I’m not sure what everyone has been told exactly, but everybody is so respectful [and] everybody is so happy to see me,” Gathy said.

During the past six months, treatment had been “difficult and very tiring,” she said, but Gathy interacted most closely with her sister, her boyfriend, and her best friend Sylvie, whom she has known since childhood, for their voice of encouragement and constant support in helping take care of domestic duties and other responsibilities.

From now on, Gathy will have regular checkups every four months to ensure that the cancer does not return.

“I worked hard and followed all of the doctor’s directions in order to come back to school as soon as I could,” Gathy said. “I missed it terribly.”

Jaya Chandra (11), who will be taught by Gathy for a second year this semester, has enjoyed learning French and is thrilled about Gathy’s return.

“I’m glad that Madame Gathy was able to recover quickly and that she has decided to continue teaching,” she said. “I missed the warmth that Madame Gathy brings to the classroom through her teaching.”

For Gathy, the most challenging part about overcoming her illness was the fear of death and losing the people she loves. As teaching has been her life ambition since she was four years old, Gathy is extremely happy to be back.