Cheers echoed throughout the gym as junior and senior homerooms contended for the title of best homeroom during last year’s Wildcat Challenge. However, digital art teacher James Finch was missing from the scene. While his homeroom competed in basketball, volleyball and trivia competitions, Finch and his wife were at the doctor’s office hearing the news that would upend the next year of their lives.

“I told my [students], ‘I’m going to be with you in the morning, [but] I’ve got to go to the doctor’s appointment for my wife, because it’s serious, you know. I want to know what’s going on,’” Finch said. “I told them, ‘If I come back, good news. If I don’t come back, it’s not the news I want to hear.’”

His wife, Sandi Finch, had gone for several checkups after noticing spots on her legs. When blood tests revealed her white blood cell count was low and staying low, she had to visit a specialist on March 22, 2024.

“My wife is beautiful,” Finch said. “She’s an amazing woman, and she’s one of the healthiest people I’ve ever known. She eats, exercises, just really takes care of herself. The doctors looked at her and said, ‘We ran another blood test and [your white blood cell count] trended down again because you have a precursor to leukemia.’ At that point, [there were] a lot of tears.”

According to Mayo Clinic, leukemia is a blood cancer that causes the bone marrow to produce an excessive amount of white blood cells that don’t function properly, weakening the immune system.

In April and May of 2024, Sandi was admitted to a hospital in Orlando for a month to undergo chemotherapy. Finch would spend about three days a week visiting her while teaching six classes of digital art.

“She had to go back in the end of August for another month for a stem cell transplant,” Finch said. “I had to be with her for 100 days because she was really weak, and I had a short-term [substitute teacher] come in here. I spent that time to be with her, thankful every day to be with her.”

Sandi’s time in the hospital has totaled up to three months since her diagnosis. While caring for his wife has meant he is away from school more, Finch said he has gotten even closer with his homeroom.

“I’m not going around saying, ‘Oh, my wife’s got cancer’ and this and that,” Finch said. “I’m more private, but I wanted my homeroom to know what’s going on, and I will tell kids, because I’m wearing a mask, ‘I’m not sick, but my wife is
immunocompromised.’ I shared that with my homeroom, and they’ve been the most empathetic, sweet kids. I mean, I almost get emotional thinking about it because I share with them things I don’t share with everybody else, because I’ve known them since seventh grade, and I wanted them to know the journey.”

Senior Tanisha Bertilien, a student in Finch’s homeroom, said her classmates made cards for Finch and his wife and always ask how she is doing.

“We got to see a side of him that we wouldn’t have seen, because he’s always a positive and happy person,” Bertilien said. “So, seeing him like this, we were able to understand more about him, and how not only does he care for us, but how much he cares for his family as well. We just connected more as he talked to us more. I feel like our bonding got tighter overall as a class, as we all were trying to support him together.”

Finch said he was originally planning on retiring at the end of the school year, but had chosen to stay another year to save money for her treatment costs.

“You know how many days I’ve missed being sick in 25 years?” Finch said. “I have only missed one week with COVID. So, I have a lot of sick leave. I was planning on just using it as my benefit when I retired, but it’s really been a savior for me and for my wife because it’s afforded me the opportunity to be with her. She isn’t an option for me. She’s my priority.”

After a year of treatment, Sandi’s health is improving.

“Here’s some really sweet news,” Finch said. “Her counts are trending up. Last night, for the first time, she was doing so well I took her out. We ate outside, on a patio, in a restaurant. Now that may seem like nothing to most people … but it’s a big thing after a year. She’s trending better, and I’m hoping in one year [it will be] like it never happened. But it’ll always be like it happened, because it’s been the hardest year of my life.”

On March 28, three hundred seventy-one days since that first doctor’s visit, Finch spent the whole school day with his homeroom dressed to the theme “Finch’s Flintstones.” At Wildcat Challenge, he made up for last year with a bugle in hand.

“[Having him there] made me realize how much we were missing last Wildcat Challenge,” Bertilien said. “The whole time he was cheering us on, like he kept blowing his bugle, and it was so much fun with him there. I just realized how much we missed that last year, and I’m so happy we got to experience that this year.”

Looking to next year, Finch said he will focus more on supporting his art students.

“I really want to do what I wasn’t able to do this year,” Finch said. “I want to leave a mark with the kids. We’ve only been in a few art competitions because I was out for so much. They’ve done so well, and I want that for them next year. I’m looking forward to it. Next year will be an easier time with my wife. She’ll be better.”