Carrie Becker is a lot of things. She’s a friend. She's a teacher, a dedicated role model to Wapakoneta High School students for the past 17 years. She's a wife and a mother to her husband, Jason, and two young boys, Owen and Bradyn. She's a provider, a guide and caretaker to her students and children.
But above all else, Becker is a fighter.
Becker grew up in Auglaize County, originally from New Bremen, and found her calling early in life. "I was good at it. Math came easily to me," she said. "In high school I would try to help those who it didn't come easily to."
Eventually, after graduating from Bowling Green State University, she made her home as a math teacher in Wapakoneta. "It's just always what I've wanted to do," Becker said, "I enjoy watching kids learn, I enjoy watching kids who struggle all of the sudden just get it. That's just my love."
However, it was all jeopardized late last year, after what should have been a routine mammogram. "I had one done in November," Becker said. "I knew that there was something there, but it was in a spot that I already had looked at."
The mammogram technician referred her for an ultrasound, and on December 12, 2016, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
"I wasn't blindsided by it. I knew there was a chance it could come back cancerous because it runs on both sides of my family,” Becker said, “but because it was a spot I previously had looked at, I didn't think it was going to be anything."
“But it was a shock,” she added. “I didn’t have my family there with me because I anticipated not having an issue, and then calling my parents, calling my dad was the hardest thing for me to do.”
For Ashley Rostorfer, Becker’s colleague at the high school, and former roommate at Bowling Green, it was just as hard to hear. “Carrie is always the strong one. She’s the leader at school, when we do things together. I rely on her and she’s always in control,” she said. “The thing that hit me the most was that she didn’t have control.”
But Becker...
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