October 23, 2009
Elizabeth Murray
Teacher surrounded by prayer during chemotherapy treatments
Elizabeth Murray, a language arts teacher at Good Shepherd School in Evansville, holds a prayer blanket given to her by her students. (Message photo by Mary Ann Hughes) Click for a larger version.
By MARY ANN HUGHES (Message staff writer)
Elizabeth Murray believes there is a purpose for everything in life, and that means she sees God’s hand in everything — both good and bad.
She felt his hand on her when she and her husband, Tom, chose Evansville as their home in 1993, and she felt it when she was hired to teach at St. Joseph School in Vanderburgh County, and then at Good Shepherd School in Evansville.
Those have been the blessings.
“God’s hand is in everything,” she believes, “and he calls you where you are supposed to be.”
That belief has also been with her during the very, very hard times.
Three years ago, she found a lump in her breast. It was cancer. She underwent chemotherapy, and in August of 2008 she had surgery followed by radiation. During those treatments, a second area was discovered, and the radiation was expanded to a second field. She also received chemotherapy.
In April of 2009, she had a “clear scan.” The chemotherapy was a “tough treatment,” she says, and she spent the summer recuperating. “I had a great summer. I felt wonderful.”
In August, during the first week of school, a new scan found more cancer in her body, this time in her lungs. Her doctors explained that “basically I will spend the rest of my life putting it at bay.”
It was disappointing news, she says.
As the news spread through the Good Shepherd School community, parents and students began attending a weekly prayer service in the church chapel. “The first week there were six students,” she said, “and last week there were 25 students and five parents.”
“You know the prayers of young children are innocent, and they go directly to the ears of God,” Elizabeth said. “I know everyone is praying for me, and I feel totally wrapped in prayer.”
She believes that because of all the prayers “I’ve never felt afraid or hopeless. I have bad days, but I can’t imagine going without all this prayer.”
On Wednesdays, Elizabeth goes to Mass in the morning at Good Shepherd before going for chemotherapy treatments. Her students are at Mass with their standard substitute teacher Lucy Ashley, Good Shepherd’s media coordinator.
When Elizabeth returns on Thursdays there is a gift on her desk. She’s received a prayer blanket, cards, scrapbooks, pictures, pink boxing gloves, snacks to take to chemotherapy, cozy socks — “anything pink.”
Fighting cancer has given her a clearer focus, she says. “You tend to think ‘I will do that later.’ One thing has changed: I don’t put things off anymore. I used to say, ‘It doesn’t matter. What do you want to do?’ Now when he [her husband] says, ‘Do you want to go out to eat?’ I say, ‘Yes!’”
Her faith has stayed the same. “I’m a firm believer that you are called to do certain things, and this is what I’m called to do right now.”
She now believes that “you have to let students know what is the most important thing in life: a relationship with God and a relationship with their family. Schoolwork is not at the top. Getting priorities straight is important.”
Elizabeth said she always felt she was called to be a teacher, that “that was God’s plan for me. I felt God chose where I taught and who I taught. So the next message I wait to hear is how long he is going to have me teach.
“That’s where true faith comes in. I am a planner, and my husband is too — but we really don’t know.”
Elizabeth’s husband is retired from the military; their two daughters live in Indianapolis. They have found, though, “a kind of a family spirit at Good Shepherd,” according to the principal, Judy Van Hoosier. Elizabeth “gets a lot of support from the parents and students.”
Her doctors have called her “quirky” because her body is “not following the norm” with some medical treatments, Elizabeth says. “They haven’t worked, and we have to rely on faith, because we can’t predict the future.”
Sometimes when she questions how long she will be able to teach, she is inspired by two fellow Catholic school teachers, Katie Schwenk at Holy Rosary School and Benedictine Sister Doris Marie Knebel at Resurrection School, who are also fighting cancer.
“They have been doing this a long time,” she said, “and I can do it too.”
The students at Good Shepherd School “rarely say anything openly” to her about the cancer, but she knows they talk about it in their religion classes. “They will come to me privately and say, ‘This was just a normal check-up, right?’”
She also receives notes from the children telling her “I hope you are doing OK” and “be strong.”
Her principal is quick to assess Elizabeth’s impact on her students. “She’s a true role model here,” said Van Hoosier.
Elizabeth says she’s always had a strong prayer life. “I can’t say it’s changed a lot. When you are a teacher you pray all the way to school and all the way home.”
Prayer was “always a big part of my life.”
She has strived to keep a sense of normalcy in her classroom. “I always wear a wig,” she said, “and it’s awful. It’s like having your head in a vise. It’s a constant squeeze.
“But routine and normalcy are best for them. They don’t need to be burdened by anything else. Kids have enough to deal with. I’ve tried to keep everything on an even keel for them.”
E-mail maryann@themessageonline.org.