SHE HAS ALL SHE NEEDS: COURAGE AND A COMPUTER
Every once in a while, students exhibit
such a fight and a will to learn that their stories should be
shared. One is Lara Roberts.
Roberts has always wanted a bachelor's degree from Florida State
University. Now, at age 29, with a husband, four children and
breast cancer, she is working on a degree in FSU's distance learning
program, which enables students to take classes online.
She attended FSU from 1989 to 1991 before moving to Georgia and getting married. But she never gave up on her education.
"It's always been my biggest regret I didn't finish,"
she said.
After being out of school five years, Roberts made the decision
to return to college, but she had only FSU in mind.
"I just loved the people and the campus," she said.
"I still have an FSU license plate on my car." (It's
on the front. Since she lives in Georgia, she has a Georgia tag
on the back.)
While taking care of two children, 18 months and 3 years old,
and two adopted sons, ages 15 and 19, Roberts decided to juggle
an online geography class with child-rearing.
She looked forward to studying at FSU without missing her children's dance classes and football practice, or PTA meetings and time with her architect husband. But, as the semester was beginning, she found a lump in her breast.
She was 25 years old, and she says several doctors insisted the lump was hormonal, saying, 'You're so young - Don't worry about it right now."
Four years later, with the lump still in her breast, Roberts took her worries to a surgeon who found it was cancer and had spread to her lymph nodes.
Many women would have dropped their college classes and focused on fighting the cancer. But Roberts continued with her studies.
"I felt like a normal person," she said. "It was my outlet, and I felt like I was accomplishing something."
She underwent two surgeries to remove the cancer and began chemotherapy.
"My first chemotherapy treatment was during the time my biggest paper was due," she said.
Roberts also had a family and young children to take care of, and she worked at helping them feel comfortable during her traumas, such as losing her hair. She let her 15-year-old son shave her head and then let her 3-year-old daughter paint on it. She believes the best way to handle her sickness is to have a good sense of humor.
"My daughter asks me, 'Mommy, are you going to draw on your eyebrows today?'"
Roberts admits there are days that humor can't heal all, and things aren't easy. After chemotherapy, even the smell of food can send her to the bathroom, but she copes. She now takes naps with her young children in the afternoons, and dedicates days to her kids and nights to studying.
She even has her computer in the laundry room and does a lot of her school work while she folds laundry.
Roberts earned an A in her class, and is now taking a political science and a communication class through the Distance Learning Program. She plans to get a bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary social science, and then go to law school once her children are in preschool.
She was scheduled for another surgery in March. She hopes it will make her cancer free. "I have a 50-50 chance of being cancer-free in seven years," she said.
Roberts has also been taking the chemotherapy drug Taxol, which was developed at FSU. She says it has been a tremendous improvement over the others.
No matter what happens in Roberts' future, she says she will never forget FSU, and she is thankful for the Distance Learning Program that allows her to continue her education in spite of all her other obligations.
"It is really fantastic for people like me," Roberts said. "I just love the school." - Kati Bexley
APRIL/MAY 2001
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