One of the scariest words to hear whenever you go to the doctor is not just the word sick, but the word cancer. In 2017, out of all the types of cancer, about 30% of all cases diagnosed in women were breast cancer. A former family and life skills teacher at PCM, Denise Young, was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer towards the beginning of the new calendar year of 2018.

Young announced her retirement at the end of the 2017-2018 school year after a total of 18 years of teaching. She was planning on retiring to spend more time with her grandchildren, husband, and focus on her hobbies. With cancer now apart of her life, these things became more important. Young finished her last couples months in the building and left PCM with high spirits.

“She was a very approachable person,” Principal Scott Bridges said. “She definitely knew her material and what the purpose of her teaching was.”

The Mustangs student body organized a Color Run for Young, it was led by the senior and junior classes. They designed t-shirts with the words “Kicking Cancer’s Butt” on the front, and “Fight for Young” on the back. All the money raised went straight to the Young family. Now about 10 months into her fight against breast cancer, she is in partial remission at this point. Her most recent MRI on Tuesday, September 11 showed that there is tumor shrinkage and that no new cancer spots are showing up. She is on a maintenance cycle every 3 weeks consisting of herceptin and perjeta. Herceptin is the drug used in what is called chemotherapy. Both herceptin and perjeta use themselves to block growth signals from getting to the cancer cells. These “smart” drugs together have shown to improve survival in women with high-risk, early-stage cancer.

The community and school district continues to wonder how she is doing and there are questions all around.

“As a person, I respect her personal space. You never know in these situations if a person wants to be bothered. I have contacted only a few times and asked how she is, otherwise I usually get my information from other reliable sources.” Bridges stated. “I am just happy to hear that she is responding positively to treatments.”

Special words from Mrs. Young herself are, “Thanks for thinking of me.”