Bay County teacher kept showing up for students during stage three breast cancer fight

BAY COUNTY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) -A local first grade teacher continued working through treatment for stage three breast cancer, saying she did not want the diagnosis to change her life or affect her family and career.

Rochelle Bowman, a first-grade teacher at Merriam Cherry Street Elementary, said she found two lumps while changing her clothes.

“I actually found the lump taking my clothes off during the day, like after work, and I felt a knot on my breast, on my left breast, and under my arm,” Bowman said.

Bowman was in her classroom when she got a call asking her to come see the doctor as soon as possible.

“When I got in there and they told me it was stage three, grade three... I just cried,” Bowman said.

Bowman said one of her first thoughts after the diagnosis was “now what?”

“I did not want cancer to change me I want to still do everything i would normally, I didn’t want it to affect my family, my career, I was going to do it,” Bowman said.

Bowman continued working part time during treatment.

“I would be in the middle of teaching, and they would give me hugs and say I hope you get better Ms. bowman, I hope you don’t stay sick,” Bowman said.

Bowman said her two daughters were her reason for continuing treatment. She said her younger daughter, who was 13 and in middle school at the time, encouraged her during difficult moments.

“During the times where I had to go through treatment, my daughter was only 13. She was in middle school. And any time I fussed about it or said, I don’t want to go. I don’t want to get sick. She would tell me she would be like, Mom, you got to. You got to fight. So, both of my kids... I have two daughters. They were my reason why,” Bowman said

Bowman said she now applies what she learned through treatment to her teaching.

“I teach it to them, that we do hard things in school, you’re going to do things that it’s hard for you, you might get frustrated, you don’t like it. but so has your teacher. Ms. bowman has gone through some really hard things that I didn’t like, I didn’t want, but I continued on and that’s how you proceed in life,” Bowman said.

After two years of treatment, Bowman said she is ready to move forward.

“You messed with the wrong girl because I’m still going to live my life and do everything that I did before. It knocked me down for a time being, but I continued on,” Bowman said.

Bowman had a mammogram six months before she found her lumps, which shows the importance of getting checked if you notice a change in your breast. She had stage three triple negative breast cancer.

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