‘Fight the fight with Page’ — Community and school rally around popular principal

By Jim Muir

For several decades Sesser-Valier school colors have been maroon and white and in recent years the color black has been added. However, as students get set to return to class next week following summer vacation local residents can expect to see a healthy splash of lime green added to those very familiar school colors.

In fact, if some folks at S-V schools get their way the entire city will take on a lime green look during the entire month of September. Already, lime green banners, ribbons, bows, signs and T-shirts decorate the community and anybody that owns stock in lime green nail polish is certain to see a healthy dividend as gallons (literally) are being used to adorn fingers and toes in this Franklin County community.

And behind the ‘all-things-green’ focus is one simple gesture – a show of love and support for ultra-popular high school principal Natalie (Eubanks) Page, who is beginning the school year with a strong will, a big smile and serious health concerns.

Page is 42 years old, and is married. She and her husband Brian have two children, a son Addison, 16, and a daughter Carlie, 14. She has been a teacher in the S-V school system for 18 years and last year was her first as principal. Counting the years she attended school Page has spent 32 of her 42 years in the same school complex.

On a recent morning Page sat at her desk in her small office and detailed what the past six weeks have been like for her and family members after she was diagnosed on July 5 with follicular lymphoma.

“Throughout this entire process, even now as I talk to you, I feel great,” said Page.  “The only reason I knew something was up was I had a swollen lymph node in my neck and I was having sinus troubles and I thought they were combined.”

After several medical procedures it was decided to remove the lymph node and, even after doctors assured her it was probably nothing, she received a call that will always be etched in her mind.

“When they told me I have lymphoma my first thought was ‘I thought lymphoma was cancer’ because I just could not put cancer with me, it just didn’t go together. At that moment I couldn’t wrap my mind around the fact that I had cancer,” she said. “When it settled in my first thought was, ‘how is a person with cancer supposed to act?’ I just kept thinking, what am I supposed to do now? It was crushing and confusing to hear.”

Page said telling her family was a difficult task.

“When I told my husband I just broke down,” she said. “And then I tried to tell my children and that was awful.”

Following the initial shock of hearing the word ‘cancer’ Page said she immediately began to call on a character trait that has served her well through the years.

“I’m hard-headed and I’m stubborn and I told my family that is exactly how I am going to deal with this,” Page said. “I don’t want people to put ‘Natalie’ and ‘cancer’ together. It is a part of my life now, but I am a mom, I am a wife, I am a teacher, I am a principal, I am a friend. That’s who I am … I just happen to have cancer.”

As is the case often in small communities, word traveled quickly that Page was facing the battle of her life and within hours the community and the school rallied around her.

“It has been nothing short of amazing,” she said. “I have been astounded at the goodness of people. I knew people were good, and the world seems to focus on the bad, but I have been overwhelmed at how the community and school have reacted. I can’t count the blessings that have taken place since the day I received the call telling me I have cancer.”

Page said one particular evening stands out when she received a text message from a co-worker who was attending a bible study and they asked if they could come by and pray for her.

“Two or three adults, a couple people I work with came to my home and then my former students start spilling into the house, all these boys that are now out of school that I had spent nine months with when I taught them in kindergarten when they were five years old,” she said. “They all got around me in a circle and prayed for me. It was a full-circle moment in my life. For years I have tried to be a person that gives more than I take, I try to give out more good than bad, to leave a positive energy out in the world. And I think it has turned around and it is coming back to me. They took time out of their day to give to me, to pray for me. It was an amazing moment in my life.”

Two co-workers and longtime friends are spearheading the lime green effort at the S-V school and throughout the community. Angie Kistner, who says she has known Page “forever” said once she got past the initial shock at the unexpected diagnosis she began working on ideas to support her friend.

“I was filled with fear when she told me,” said Kistner. “She is by far one of the best individuals I have ever met. We just can’t lose somebody as instrumental as she is in our community.”

Kistner said several fundraising and awareness projects are in the works, including ‘painting the entire town lime green’ in September to highlight “Lymphoma Cancer Awareness Month.”

Stephanie White has worked with Page for 15 years and also labels her as a “good friend.”

“After the shock wore off I just wanted to do something to help,” said White. “We are gaining momentum and it’s very encouraging to me and I know it’s encouraging to Natalie.”

White said co-workers are continuing to explore ways to support Page and her family. White and school guidance counselor Kerri Henry designed a T-shirt that will be sold to students and also to local residents. The shirt – with the logo “Fight the fight with Page” – is sure to be popular attire in the S-V community in the coming weeks.

Page said doctors have told her that they believe after six months of chemo she will be in remission but they warned that this type of cancer usually returns within four to six years. Page said she is taking her fight “one day at a time” and draws strength and optimism daily from the overwhelming support she has received. She said she is tired the week after chemo treatment but otherwise feels ‘great.’

Page revealed a recent conversation with a co-worker where they talked about all the good that is coming back to her during the difficult experience of being diagnosed with cancer.

“He told me ‘you reap what you sow Natalie and you’ve sowed a lot of good in your life.’ I told him I had never thought of that verse in a positive way and he told me that it was meant to be a positive comment but we just never hear it used in that way,” she said. “I have had so many experiences, people stopping by, people telling me they are praying for me, getting cards in the mail and then the community and school supporting me. I have witnessed so much goodness because of this … it’s just very humbling.”