Lindsay Civitella, Death — A cherished special education teacher who was terminally ill with an aggressive form of ovarian cancer has passed away while receiving hospice care. Channel 2′s Cobb County Bureau Chief Michele Newell was informed by Lindsay Civitella’s family that she had passed suddenly on Monday night. Allatoona High School’s student body and faculty came together to support their dying teacher.
According to Hailey Godfrey, Civitella’s sister, teaching is more than just a profession for Civitella; it’s also a calling and a responsibility that extends beyond the classroom. Those students were important to her. It was her offspring. Godfrey claimed, “We knew every one of their names.” She constantly brought them up in conversation.
According to Godfrey, Civitella has never expected to be separated from her passions. “Five weeks ago, I was with her,” Godfrey recalled. The results of the biopsy confirmed her worst fears: she had cancer. According to Godfrey, doctors weren’t sure how to treat the tumor because it wasn’t the traditional type of tumor associated with ovarian cancer. She was urged to visit the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.
They were unable to help her because “by the time she got there, it had already spread throughout her major organs and she was in liver failure,” Godfrey added. Civitella came back to the metro Atlanta area more determined than ever. She and her husband checked out her classroom the weekend before school started to make sure everything was ready for the first day, Godfrey said. She was finally healthy enough to go back to work after that.
Godfrey estimated that she only had a few hours to a few days to live. A teacher who has touched so many lives has been showered with affection from her students and colleagues. “It’s hard,” Godfrey said. “No one anticipated it would move at this pace.” There is a GoFundMe page set up for Civitella’s spouse. However, things went downhill during the weekend.
