{"id":1093,"date":"2017-09-29T09:00:22","date_gmt":"2017-09-29T13:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=1093"},"modified":"2017-10-11T10:53:56","modified_gmt":"2017-10-11T14:53:56","slug":"kathy-conese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=1093","title":{"rendered":"Kathy Conese"},"content":{"rendered":"

Loving Each Day<\/em><\/h1>\n

By Kathryn Walsh | Photography by Alexis Emm<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Some teachers dread September. Kathy Conese looks forward to it.<\/p>\n

She adores her job, teaching kindergarten at Allen Road Elementary School in North Syracuse. After working as a software engineer, she taught fifth grade for 19 years before switching to kindergarten about five years ago, when the North Syracuse Central district moved to a full-day program. Part of the fun, she said, is how joyful kindergartners are.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey just love life,\u201d Kathy said. \u201cSo, they\u2019re wonderful to be around, because that\u2019s why we\u2019re here, just to enjoy every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a lesson she learned the hard way. Fifteen years ago, the results of Kathy\u2019s routine pap smear were irregular. Her doctor wanted to do some tests, but reassured her that everything would probably be fine. It wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

One Wednesday afternoon in March, she was teaching her fifth-graders when her principal came to the door. Kathy\u2019s doctor was on the phone, and he needed to talk to her. It couldn\u2019t wait. While another teacher stayed with her class, Kathy went to answer her doctor\u2019s call.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just said that what I had was bad and that my husband and I needed to be in his office at 6 a.m. the next morning, and that my teaching for the year was done,\u201d she remembered.<\/p>\n

Early on Thursday morning, her doctor delivered the news: Kathy had an invasive, fast-moving type of cervical cancer. He warned her not to look at anything about her cancer on the internet. The prognosis wasn\u2019t good.<\/p>\n

On Monday, just four days after her diagnosis, Kathy underwent a nine-hour-long surgery, followed by an eight-day hospital stay and a long and difficult recovery.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just missed the next three months of my life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

One of the hardest parts of that terrible time was how traumatized her students were. She was there one day, and gone the next.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know what to tell them when I left that Wednesday,\u201d she said. \u201cMy school handled it beautifully, but they were 10 years old, so, then they worried. It was awful.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was able to go back and see them once before the school year ended.<\/p>\n

Kathy had the support of her husband, three children, coworkers and a large circle of friends, but she wanted to connect\u00a0with someone else who had survived the same type of rare and aggressive cancer she had.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re going through something, you want somebody who\u2019s been through it,\u201d she said, \u201cbecause there are so many unknowns.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, at every six-week checkup, Kathy asked her oncologist, Dr. Douglas Bunn, if he had found a survivor for her to contact. And every time, he said no. She decided to stop asking.<\/p>\n

Instead, Kathy found support close to home. She started going to a support group for women affected by gynecological cancers, and she got involved in Maureen\u2019s Hope, a foundation run by her friend, Susan Bertrand, in honor of Susan\u2019s sister, who had died from the same type of cancer Kathy survived.<\/p>\n

The organization provides support and services to help people affected by cancer \u2014 everything from helping with bills to organizing spa days for moms of children battling cancer.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Susan] does phenomenal things for people,\u201d Kathy said.<\/p>\n

Coming close to losing her own life and spending time supporting families going through the same struggle inspired Kathy to make the most of every opportunity. Recently, she made a spur-of-the-moment decision to accompany her son, Michael, on a volunteer trip to teach English in Cusco, Peru, during her February break.<\/p>\n

Staying with a local family was a highlight of the trip, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can go and you can be a tourist,\u201d Kathy said, \u201cbut when you live with the people and you\u2019re immersed in their culture and their food, you try so many amazing things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back home in Liverpool, gathering around the table with her family is one of Kathy\u2019s greatest joys. Her three children still live in the area. Two are engineers, like Kathy was and her husband still is. The third is a kindergarten teacher.<\/p>\n

Every Sunday, they gather for a big family dinner and sit at the table late into the night. Those dinners are a simple joy; as Kathy knows, those are the best kind.<\/p>\n

Cancer was a difficult journey, she admitted.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut what it taught me was really to enjoy every day,\u201d Kathy said. \u201cI get up in the morning and be the best I can be to the people around me. And that\u2019s all we can ask for, right?\u201d SWM <\/em><\/p>\n

For more information on Maureen\u2019s Hope, visit maureenshope.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Loving Each Day By Kathryn Walsh | Photography by Alexis Emm\u00a0 Some teachers dread September. Kathy Conese looks forward to it. She adores her job, teaching kindergarten at Allen Road Elementary School in North Syracuse. After working as a software engineer, she taught fifth grade for 19 years before switching to kindergarten about five years…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1121,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[156,162,388,389,356,262],"class_list":["post-1093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-alexis-emm","tag-kathryn-walsh","tag-kathy-conese","tag-maureens-hope","tag-october-2017","tag-syracuse-woman-magazine"],"gutentor_comment":1,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Alexis-Emm-Photo-Syracuse-Headshot-Photographers-1.jpg?fit=5200%2C3460&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":544,"url":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=544","url_meta":{"origin":1093,"position":0},"title":"Natalie Clair Stetson","author":"Staff","date":"February 27, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Excitement in the Water By Kathryn Walsh | Photography by Alexis Emm\u00a0 Canals and New York state history aren\u2019t exactly at the forefront of the cultural zeitgeist these days. 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The show had a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Featured"","block_context":{"text":"Featured","link":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?cat=99"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/SWM-Alexis-Emm-Photograffi-5.jpg?fit=1200%2C807&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/SWM-Alexis-Emm-Photograffi-5.jpg?fit=1200%2C807&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/SWM-Alexis-Emm-Photograffi-5.jpg?fit=1200%2C807&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/SWM-Alexis-Emm-Photograffi-5.jpg?fit=1200%2C807&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/SWM-Alexis-Emm-Photograffi-5.jpg?fit=1200%2C807&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":861,"url":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=861","url_meta":{"origin":1093,"position":3},"title":"Teresa Martini","author":"Staff","date":"June 30, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Tere of Transformation By Lorna Oppedisano | Photography by Alexis Emm Life is full of surprises. \u201cYou have one idea for yourself,\u201dTeresa Martini mused as she peered through oversized sunglasses. \u201cI thought I would be an organic farmer or travel the world or whatever free-spirited, crazy thing I thought I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Featured"","block_context":{"text":"Featured","link":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?cat=99"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Inspire-tere_0717.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Inspire-tere_0717.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Inspire-tere_0717.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Inspire-tere_0717.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Inspire-tere_0717.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1985,"url":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=1985","url_meta":{"origin":1093,"position":4},"title":"Jenniffer Benedetto","author":"Staff","date":"August 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Teaching Education Appreciation By Lorna Oppedisano | Photography by Alexis Emm\u00a0 \u201cEveryone has a story and everybody has gifts. 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