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CRIMSON SHIELD
THE ONLINE MAGAZINE OF BROTHER MARTIN HIGH SCHOOL |
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| November 2010 |
‹‹ Front page Next article ››
Claire LeBlanc joined the Brother Martin Mathematics Department in 1981.
- She quickly moved up the line from 8th grade to Advanced Math, her favorite subject.
- From 1990-97, she also moderated the Student Council.
- In 1998, she became full-time Student Activities Director, continuing in that position through the 2009-10 school year.
Her three sons all graduated from Brother Martin: twins Mark and Michael in 1990 and Brian two years later.
- All three played football and baseball for the Crusaders.
- Mark graduated from West Point and served his term in the army. Having earned two Master's degrees in engineering, he works at Exxon's main office in Virginia.
- Michael graduated from UNO and the LSU Dental School. He practices in Baton Rouge.
- Brian, also an engineer (LSU), works in Springdale AK.
- Claire has three granddaughters, all five or younger.
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Claire LeBlanc in 1982-3 as assistant
academic games moderator
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Claire LeBlanc
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In 2004, Claire's life changed drastically.
- After experiencing severe stomach distress, she was diagnosed as having an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
- She underwent chemotherapy for a year at M. D. Anderson in Houston. At that point, the cancer was in remission.
Soon, however, a blood blister on her knee sent her back to Houston.
- It was non-Hodgkin lymphoma again. Anderson's approach for all patients who relapse is a stem cell transplant.
- Claire lived in Houston for five months while being treated with her own stem cells, which are drawn and treated and injected back into the body.
- She brought her computer with her and e-mailed back and forth to assistant Dionne Colletti to keep the Student Activities Office functioning.
Two years later, she noticed a spot on her foot.
- It turned out to be another non-Hodgkin skin cancer like the previous one.
- This time she received stem cells from a volunteer donor, a 24-year old man she has never met.
- Unlike the treatment with her own cells, rejection can be a problem but so far so good. The biggest reaction has been a skin rash.
- Her body doesn't have the first responders to fight off infections. With her defense system compromised, Claire had to get all her immunizations again. "I'm only 18 months old now."
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At the beginning of this ordeal, she and her husband Bobby also had to cope with Katrina.
- She lived in the Baton Rouge area while teaching at Brother Martin night school at Catholic High.
- They returned to New Orleans for the reopening on Elysian Fields in January 2006, living in a FEMA trailer in the driveway of their Metairie home, which had been flooded.
- They decided to complete a home they had started in Myrtle Grove on the west bank of the Mississippi south of Baton Rouge. She commutes 45 minutes each way to school.
What has she learned from all this?
- "You look at your life a lot different. I enjoy every day," especially family get-togethers.
- "I never take anything for granted and don't make plans beyond my next checkup. I live my life in four-month segments."
- "This makes you less materialistic." Claire tells people not to give her "stuff."
- She has more compassion for other people, in part because she has seen others go through gruelling health battles alongside her.
After moving last summer from her office of 12 years in the main school building to the Alumni and Development Office, Claire has some continuing responsibilities plus some new ones.
- She still organizes the beginning-of-school student orientation, the Leadership Banquet, and graduation.
- Now she supervises or helps plan events such as the Prayer Breakfast, Extravaganza, and Faculty Recognition Ceremony.
- Claire doesn't have to put in so much time in the evenings or weekends attending plays, dances, and sporting events.
By her perseverance through adversity, Claire has educated her former students much more than she ever did in any classroom. Her cheerful, indomitable spirit inspires all of us.
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