GINA SHERLOCK

I, Gina Fayette-Sherlock, was born in the Philippine Islands, and grew up in Chittenango, New York and graduated from Chittenango H.S. In 2007, with no family history, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. After two surgeries, one a lumpectomy, I subsequently completed radiation therapy, and continue to remain cancer free.

A veteran of the Armed Forces, I enlisted in the U.S. Army shortly after high school. I served as an Administrative Specialist. This was a time of growing up for me!  My military experiences are an integral part of who I am today. I learned valuable life lessons: an appreciation for diversity, and the importance of being a team player. I also learned the power of mind over matter. If I stay healthy in mind, I believe, I will stay healthy in body and spirit.

I am the mother of two children, Sara and Stuart.  Sara is in her freshman year of college in Rochester and hopes to be a teacher one day.  Stuie is a junior at Central Square’s Paul V. Moore H.S. and will graduate in 2011. In my spare time I enjoy snowmobiling, gardening, rollerblading, golfing, travelling, running and off-shore fishing!

My biggest fear was that my children would contract this disease. After a simple blood test I found out there was no genetic predisposition to cancer.  These test results lifted a huge emotional burden off my shoulders. There isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t thank God that my children are healthy, and that my breast cancer is in remission.

I teach fifth grade at Mexico Middle School, Mexico, NY.  Having worked as a special education teaching assistant for thirteen years, I was more than ready to take on the role of teacher. Further, I chose to teach in an inclusion classroom setting with special needs students. While the challenges are endless and varied, they make me laugh. Where else can you get laughs and hugs every day?  My students not only learn from me, I learn from them. Teaching, as well as, my faith has been my saving grace through the pain and suffering this disease has brought into my life.

I look now to what I can do to help other cancer survivors. This is where the Carol M. Baldwin Fund comes in.  My hope is that through volunteer work I can somehow, someway have a positive impact on the lives of other breast cancer victims.

I would like to include a favorite sonnet of mine:
To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand