During the first Monday of every month, Mansfield Independent School District schools wear certain colors to raise awareness for different kinds of cancer and to show their support for the people fighting them.
This "Colors for Caring" campaign hits home for one third grade teacher, who credits the support for helping her push through her darkest days.
Janie Woolsey doesn't miss a beat as she teaches her third grade class at Willie Brown Elementary about the weather. You'd never guess that outside the walls of her classroom, her life has been filled with more stormy days than sunny ones.
"Janie is – and I've told her this so many times – she is the strongest woman I have ever met," said Kyna Eastlick, principal at Willie Brown Elementary.
Just before the 2014-2015 school year began, Woolsey's 12-year-old daughter passed away. It left a gaping hole in her heart.
"You never know what the next day brings," said Woolsey.
Following her daughter's death, Woolsey and her husband decided they'd try to have another child, and several months later she became pregnant again. But the joy that news brought was short lived.
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"I was about six-and-a-half (months) along, seven months along and found out that I had breast cancer," said Woolsey.
She felt defeated.
"I asked myself, 'Why me?' a lot," said Woolsey. "You know, it's hard to kind of hold yourself up and really believe whenever all these things keep happening in your life."
Her school family rallied behind her after her daughter died. And when she told them about the cancer, they decided they needed to give her something to believe in again.
"It's a community where we want to help each other," said Eastlick.
Her fellow teachers designed a T-shirt with the word "Believe" across the chest and "Woolsey's Warriors" on the sleeve, then sold them to raise money for her medical bills. The school held additional fundraisers, sent her cards and flowers, and helped her in every other way they could imagine.
"It's made a world of a difference," said Woolsey. "To have that support to back you is the only way to know that you can get from day-to-day."
And it's done more than that – Woolsey recently finished her cancer treatments and is now the mother of a healthy baby boy.
"Now I know you can fight this," said Woolsey. "And I'm not doing it alone for sure."
Woolsey is scheduled to go in for checkup this weekend to see if her treatments worked.
The school continues to wear their "Woolsey's Warriors" shirts every Colors for Caring Monday.
