The fear of the unknown, the mystery surrounding a rare and aggressive cancer often reduces Alaura Keith to tears.

“It was recently discovered … there’s not a lot of research,” an emotional Keith said as she sat in her empty third-grade classroom at Lakeland Hills Elementary at the close of another busy day. “I do a lot of my own research … ”

Keith is learning all she can about the invasive disease that upended her life late last year. “Triple-negative” breast cancer is difficult to treat, let alone understand. While people say the prognosis is poor, doctors maintain there is no evidence to back up that assumption.

Of the estimated 180,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer each year in the United States, some 15 percent will have triple negative. It usually attacks younger women.

It attacked a humble school teacher at 37.

Complaining of pains, Keith consulted a doctor. A tumor was discovered. Immediate chemotherapy shrank it, followed in December by a lumpectomy – the removal of a part of Keith’s pectoral muscle.

Now comes the tough part.

Beating it requires aggressive chemotherapy. Weeks of it.

Determined to win this fight, Keith finished 13 rounds of chemotherapy and has just begun another round of 16 additional treatments. She has summoned a nutritionist and follows a vegan diet. She also explored other options, including acupuncture and craniosacral therapy.

“I’m just a very competitive person,” she said, “and my competitiveness isn’t going to let me sit around and do nothing.”

Besides, too many kids depend on her.

“They need me,” said Keith, a wife, mother of two boys and a teacher of 26. “The kids actually take my mind off it, and they need me here.

“Teaching is my life.”

Keith is a fighter, a former athlete, a coach and an active outdoors enthusiast with zeal for life. She loves to snowboard and ski, and boat and sail the Puget Sound waters with her family.

It was while snowboarding that she tore the labrum, a type of cartilage, in her shoulder. Surgery is pending.

Whether physical or emotional, Keith is resolute while shouldering her pain and the pain of others. Her mother is battling lung cancer and a rare case of pneumonia.

Through it all, Keith draws strength from her family and the many friends who live in the same neighborhood where she works.

And now the Lakeland Hills community is rallying around her.

Co-workers and parents prepare meals for the Keith family each week. They have raised money for a monthly visit by a housekeeper.

School staff and parents are organizing a benefit run/walk later this month on her behalf. Proceeds will help the Keith family with mounting medical costs. Health insurance only goes so far.

“It’s amazing how many businesses and people want to help,” said Becky Miller, whose son is in Keith’s class. “I just hope it will encourage her.”

Added Jodi McGraw, whose son is also in Keith’s class: “She is a really neat lady. If anything, this shows our support, that we can get behind her, especially with what she is going through.”

Keith would rather avoid the spotlight, but has reluctantly accepted the gracious support.

“Asking people for help is hard,” she admitted. “They have been so great to me.”

In the meantime, Keith is staying in the game. She refuses to leave behind her kids.

Several oncologists recommended Keith stop working. She found one who encouraged her to try.

Keith relinquished her duties as a basketball coach. The Lakeland Hills girls lost only one game in two years under her guidance. But she works three days a week in the classroom, except for Fridays when, accompanied by her husband, she receives chemo. A steady substitute teacher, Alice Wren, tag-teams Keith’s efforts by filling in for her on Mondays, giving her additional time to recover from the exhaustive and draining treatments.

Judging by her appearance, everything seems normal. When first diagnosed, she immediately had her head shaven. That wig of natural hair fits the part just fine these trying days.

“I did it so my kids wouldn’t freak out,” Keith said. “I didn’t want them to know and feel that I was sick all the time.”

Like a good teacher, Keith is learning more about herself and the battle she faces each day. And like a good student, she is staying above the curve.

“I feel like I don’t have a choice,” she said. “To beat this I’m doing everything I can.”

=====

CRUSADE FOR MRS. KEITH

Parents, teachers and friends are holding a benefit run/walk for Alaura Keith.

“Mrs. Keith’s Cancer Crusade” will feature a 5K (3.1-mile) run/walk beginning at 10 a.m. Jan. 31 at Sunset Park on Lakeland Hills, 1306 69th St.

Proceeds will benefit Keith’s medical expenses.

Registrations is $20 registration, 12-under are free.

Kids are encouraged to bring coins for a drive. Drawings for prizes will be held afterward.

To register, visit www.active.com and search for “Mrs. Keith.” The first 60 to register receive a T-shirt.

For more information, call 253-735-9953 or contact becky_scott@comcast.net