A Florida school teacher with cancer received enough sick day donations from other educators last month to see him through his chemotherapy treatment.
Robert Goodman, a history teacher at Palm Beach Gardens Community High School, had used up all his paid sick leave days to undergo surgery and chemo after being diagnosed with stage III colon cancer in April, CBS Miami reported.
He was still looking at several weeks worth of treatment but he could not afford to take unpaid leave from work so he did the only thing he could think of doing — snap a selfie and post it to Facebook along with an appeal for help.
"If I can get 20 more sick days from any teacher or district employee volunteers that would allow me to take more time to recover," he wrote, adding that it should be enough time for him to at least complete the next round of chemo.
The donations immediately began to pour in as teachers, staff members and other employees paid into the Florida retirement system transferred their sick days to Goodman, CBS Miami said.
Within four days he had acquired 75 sick days, enough to see him through his treatment.
Covered employees are able to donate annual leave directly to another employee dealing with a personal or family medical emergency and who has exhausted his or her available paid leave, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management explained.
Goodman said on Facebook that the fact that people were willing to give up their paid leave days was "proof that love is contagious."
On Tuesday, the teacher said he had gone for his last chemo session and thanked all the people who had teamed up to assist him.
"Never be afraid to help people when you see the opportunity, rise to the occasion because that's what we're all here for and I'll leave you all with that- God Bless," he said.
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