Shari Rothfeld was only 31 years old when she was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer in October 2012.

“It was shocking to everybody here,” says the art teacher at PS 721, a District 75 high school at In-Tech Academy in the Bronx.

When Rothfeld’s colleagues found out that she would need to miss many days of work for treatment, they stepped up to donate their sick days.

“I wanted to have some way that I could show her my support and [show her] what a valued staff member she is,” says Rothfeld’s principal, Cheryl Green-Foster, who donated some of her own sick days.

Although she had to take a day off every week from October through March for treatment, Rothfeld was able to continue working throughout chemotherapy thanks to her colleagues’ donations.

When she returned to her school in April after a five-week recovery from surgery, with her immune system compromised, staff members took special precautions to shield her from germs and make sure sick students didn’t get too close.

“Everybody was superprotective of me,” says Rothfeld, who then underwent radiation while continuing to teach.

Now in remission, Rothfeld hopes her story will encourage other young women to be vigilant.

While the staff had participated in the UFT’s breast cancer awareness campaign before, this year “had meaning for us personally,” says paraprofessional Glenn Viola. “We are a very small group, and it affected everyone.”