July 3, 2013
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Linda Foster at the Forest Park Campus
Photo by Ray Rockwell
Linda Foster Earns Degree while Battling Cancer By Daphne Rivers Linda Foster is a fighter. The 62-yearold St. Louis Community College graduate has twice survived cancer, and she earned a certificate and a degree during her struggles. After Foster, who resides in Velda Village in North St. Louis County, was laid off following the 2008 closure of the daycare center where she had been employed for 14 years, she enrolled at STLCC in January 2009. “I had to keep going,” Foster said. “Because that’s what you do.” Linda underwent treatment for breast cancer in 1974 and remained cancerfree until early 2011, when she was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. When her doctor told her that “something looked funny” on her MRI scan during a checkup, Foster says she was not surprised to find out that it was cancerrelated. Foster, who was one of 11 children, has a family history of cancer. Two of her sisters have succumbed to
cancer and one brother, who survived, also fought the disease. She says that the most difficult part of her ordeal was telling her 36-year-old son about the diagnosis. “He had big crocodile tears,” she said. “It was the hardest thing I had to do in my life.” After she started chemotherapy, the treatments made it impossible for Foster to work. She depended on the help and resourcefulness of family and friends to get through rough patches. Foster says that even though times were hard, the one thing she refused to do was give up on was her education. During the 2011 academic year, she only missed five days of school. Despite the year-long bout with the disease, Foster continued to pursue studies at STLCC-Forest Park. She earned a certificate in Early Care and Education in May 2012. Even though she suffered debilitating burns that
made it difficult for her to stand, she walked across the stage to receive her See COURAGE AND PRESERVERANCE page 2
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