Only On 7: Teacher finds way to educate cancer-stricken child from home

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- When a kindergartner at a San Francisco school was diagnosed with cancer, her teacher went beyond the call of duty to help her learn how to read.

In fact, her classmates did their part, too.

Nearly a year ago Olive Diamond, now a first-grader, was diagnosed with T cell lymphoma, a type of blood cancer.

She was quickly pulled out of school to begin treatment.

Cara Cuper was her kindergarten teacher at Francis Scott Key Elementary. "It just made me extremely nervous and worried about how we were going to continue her education, how I was going to keep her learning," she said.

During one of her visits to the family's home, Cuper came up with an idea. "They had a face time right on the computer. I had her working on an iPad at home at the table with her parents and we thought, 'Wait a minute, this is something that we can do together,'" she said.

Using two iPads, one at Olive's home and the other in the classroom, the teacher was able to include Olive in the daily lessons from the hospital or from home.

Her classmates knew exactly what to do.

"She moved around the classroom with us and people who sat in the back or sat next to the table, just took the iPad and put it in places so she could see," Cuper said.

Her parents say Olive never missed a day of instruction.

"She was almost fluidly reading certain level books by the end of kindergarten while she was getting aggressive chemo treatments weekly," Olive's mother Megan said.

The idea has inspired other teachers to do the same.

For example, another teacher at the same school was recently diagnosed with cancer. With the use of an iPad, she is now reading to her classroom every day from her home while undergoing chemotherapy.

"She will never forget how she stayed connected to her classmates and how this one teacher did everything she could to keep her connected," Superintendent Richard Carranza said.

"We never were able to fall. I mean, there were really dark days but we never were alone," Megan said.

Olive is now a happy first-grader with a passion for learning.