Thursday 3 September 2015

My Madill Team

Good morning to my Madill Family. For a fleeting moment this morning I thought that I should do a video post for you; take the protective tape off the camera of my chromebook, show you how well my forehead has healed, my slightly off-centre nose and my two new front teeth but we all know that I would just end up being a blubbery mess in 30 seconds or less. So here instead you get your very own blog post, I call it my Madill Team.

Those of you who have been reading know that I am surrounded by a wonderful group of spinal cord injury experts, they are called "Team Yellow". The difference between this team and my Madill team is that here, I am a student. I have not been a student for a very long time. Down in OT, Gary tells me that athletes make terrible patients. And we all know that teachers make for terrible students, so therefore I have two strikes against me. But you also know that there is no way that I am going to let any of that get in the way of my recovery. In fact, I have already won an award - one that I didn't know even existed. It is handed down from person to person on the Spinal Cord Injury floor, given by a person who is homeward bound to a person who is new and is working their ass off in rehab. I guess that's me.

I am always asking for help from my Yellow Team: A hard thing for me to do. For my Madill team I have only one request: talk about me. More specifically talk to students about how I got here. The more I hear stories from my cycling friends, the more I realize how much work we have to do to educate drivers. And what better way to do it then before they start driving? It's not just about cyclists vs. cars. It's driver vs. anything on the road. And the reason for this is that no one is paying attention any more. Everyone thinks they are so good a multitasking that they can do whatever and drive. We can't. And it's up to us - the teachers. We spend more time with these kids than their parents. We don't want what happened to me to happen to anyone else AND we especially don't want one of ours to be the cause.

I love you guys so much and I am completely heart broken to not be with you tomorrow. Imagine, wanting so badly to go back to school? That's me, except the school I am at and the team I am with is not the one of my choice. Thank you so much for all the love and support you have sent me and my family, words can not explain our gratitude.

My goal is to be back in to see you by the end of October, on wheels or otherwise, time will tell. And I will be back on the Madill team some day, have no doubt about that.

PS Tell the kids I miss them too. When I talk about "my kids" here people stop my story to see which kids I mean, my own or my students.  It feels so much more natural for me to call my students "my kids" because deep down I love them all too.

6 comments:

  1. Touching! So obvious that, for you, teaching is much more than just a job -- it's a "calling" as well. Team Madill will be richer when you're back with it!

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  2. We were all thinking of you today, Julie. We look forward to seeing you again in the halls of Madill. Until then, we will spread the word about sharing the road. Sending loads of love to you. XO Shannon

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  3. When I told the kids that you had a message for the Madill Team they said: What?! She wants to start us training already? ha ha. But they read your post too and will spread the word! And they look forward to seeing you again! Love from the Vandervlies family.

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  4. I am so happy that were you were my teacher and I have no doubt you will impact many more students in the future. Team Madill is lucky to have you (as LDSS was too). So glad you to hear you are healing well and will continue to do so!

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  5. Your whole LDSS family is rooting for you too! ❤️

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  6. We all love you too, Mrs. Sawchuk! My locker is right across from your classroom this year. I'll miss seeing you everyday! So happy to hear of so many positive steps and improvements!

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