MONTEGO BAY, St James — A 2020 diagnosis of kidney disease was not enough to dampen Patricia Sterling’s spirit.

The teacher at the Cornaldi Avenue Primary School in this western parish has managed to maintain not only a positive attitude, but her personal life, amid a new routine of weekly dialysis treatment. She has been receiving treatment twice weekly to remove excess fluid and impurities from her blood stream since March of 2020.

“This March will be three years since I have been doing dialysis, so I would say I commemorate the start of the pandemic because that was the same time I fell ill. I have treatment at the hospital twice per week on Mondays and Thursdays, so on those days I go to work then I go for treatment,” she explained.

Though initially frightened by the news of her life-threatening illness, Sterling credits her overall cheerfulness to the support and outpouring of love she has been receiving from loved ones and colleagues at work.

“I maintain a positive attitude because of the people around me and I have realised that I am not just living for myself, but I am also living for others. By this, I mean that my life is a living testimony because two years ago I thought I would have been dead by now,” Sterling told the Jamaica Observer.

She continued, “When some of those blood results were in, even the head doctor at the hospital said that he was surprised to see me still sitting here. But I believe that when favour and God’s grace are on you, there is nothing or no one that can take that away.”

Sterling told the Sunday Observer that the administration of the Cornaldi Avenue Primary School had also embraced her wholeheartedly since her diagnosis. She noted that while it has been difficult to juggle her new life, special accommodations have been made to assist in easing her burdens by the school she has devoted her professional career to.

She is grateful, as it is through this grace that Sterling has received much-needed support.

“It has been challenging, but to tell you the truth, I have been working at Cornaldi since the year 2000 because I was a secretary there before I became a teacher in 2009, so they know my work and my worth. They know what I am capable of, so accommodations are made there for me,” Sterling said.

“Being sick and working there, honestly, everyone there has been accommodative. Normally the only people who have two teachers in the classroom at Cornaldi are the grade coordinators and the vice-principal, but because of my illness I am with another teacher,” she pointed out.

“They have two of us in the classroom with 40 students and it makes it so much easier for me. It has been a heartwarming feeling to know that they appreciate me so much that even when I am sick they will accommodate me in such a way. Sometimes the principal or the teacher that I work with, who is also my friend, will tell me to take it easy, and if I am not walking straight, everybody is [concerned],” Sterling added.

Concerns have also come from her students. However, Sterling told the Sunday Observer that she has managed to keep her illness outside of her third-grade classroom as she attempts to maintain a level of normalcy.

“It is challenging having to go to work knowing that I am sick, but being the person that I am, I still put out 100 per cent — I do not go on the work and play. They don’t know in detail that I am ill, but right now one of my eyes is not doing so well, so they think that I have an eye issue. I do not act sick in front of them because I do not want to traumatise them,” she said.

While she has had to make a lot of lifestyle changes since being diagnosed with kidney disease, her love for life has remained the same. With loving friends and an open road leading to some of Jamaica’s finest adventures, Sterling has taken pride in keeping her life filled with fun.

“Life before being diagnosed was always good and life is still good because I have life and I am just living — that is my motto right now. I have a life so I am just living and giving God thanks. I am on mid-term break now, so I had a girls’ night out with some friends and the following day we went rafting. Life is great, I am living,” she said

“I don’t just go to the hospital… church or work, I still go out and have fun with my friends,” said Sterling, before adding that she also keeps a strong bond with her 22-year-old daughter who resides overseas.

“We have a very strong relationship. Even though she is not living in Jamaica, we communicate every day. She is an awesome child,” Sterling said.