Student/teacher friendship offers help, hope

Staff photo by Rob Novit Marjorie Moore Cosey, left, looks over her third-grade class photo with Karen Blanset, her former teacher. Cosey, who has battled cancer for nine years, is expecting a baby in February. Blanset has offered to assist Cosey and her family.

As they waited on lunch at a downtown restaurant last week, Karen Blanset and Marjorie Moore Cosey pored over school photos dating back nearly 30 years.

They laughed companionably as they caught up on some of Cosey's third-grade classmates at Busbee Elementary School in Wagener.

Blanset, a retired principal, was then a young teacher just starting out. Cosey recalls her a good teacher "who wasn't hard on us but was serious about education. We couldn't slack off."

The class participated in a field day that spring. They were the leprechauns, the lucky leprechauns.

As Cosey and Blanset reminisced over lunch, they also discussed how Blanset could become her friend's lucky leprechaun all over again, helping Cosey at a critical time.

The mother of three daughters - ages 16, 12 and 10, Cosey has battled an aggressive form of thyroid cancer since 1999. She still has two tumors, and a damaged disk forced her to go on permanent disability in June 2007. She has had surgery since then and additional treatment.

A few months ago, Cosey and her husband William were stunned to learn that she is pregnant again. A baby boy is due in late February and, as a result, Cosey has had to forego radiation and medications. Not surprisingly, she is considered high risk and is carefully monitored by her OB/GYN.

"It's amazing to have that little boy," said Cosey, the daughter of Bobbie Salters and William Moore. "I had been on a morphine patch and am now without it, but the pain is worth it."

Blanset has experienced her own medical issues in recent years, including thyroid problems and multiple sclerosis. She took medical retirement earlier this year and now plans to help Cosey and her family in any way she can.

As Blanset's career took her to other schools over the years, Cosey continued to live in Wagener, finishing high school in 1989. She attended USC Aiken for two years, then moved to Dalton, Ga., with her first husband.

After the cancer was diagnosed, Cosey moved back to Aiken County in 2001 to be near her family. She worked at UPS Brokerage and got involved with the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life and with United Way. Cosey also resumed college through Southern Wesley an University.

She and Blanset reunited seven years ago when Cosey registered her oldest daughter at Millbrook. They lost track of each other again when Cosey was living in North Augusta. But earlier this year they discovered they are now neighbors.

"I will keep her straight," Blanset said with a smile. "Marjorie inspires me. I never got to be a stay-at-home mom and now I get training in being a grammy. I can keep the baby for her when needed and go through the car line with the girls."

After her son is born, Cosey will return to the M.D. Anderson Clinic in Houston next April for a semi-annual visit. The Savannah River Cancer Foundation helped her financially with the last visit. She expects to have some surgical procedures on her neck and have the tumors removed if necessary. Cosey is grateful for the foundation's support and Blanset's enthusiastic willingness to assist her and her family.

"Jesus has always been there for me," said Cosey. "I don't worry about anything, I really don't. I'm not terminal yet, and I'm not going to be."

Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.