A Bethel Park elementary teacher who felt “off” after a bout of COVID-19 ended up on an operating table with a brain tumor, and she still showed up for her students the very next day. K.D. Meucci read bedtime stories to her class from a hospital bed after surgery, then returned to the classroom she had been fighting to get back to. Her story resurfaced this week in Pittsburgh-area coverage of a teacher's return to the classroom.
The latest report comes from CBS News Pittsburgh, which published a segment on a Pittsburgh-area teacher's return to the classroom after a health emergency. Its headline refers to brain cancer, but the station's earlier detailed reporting describes a benign tumor, which is the version laid out here.
From Lingering Symptoms to a Surgery Date in Six Days
According to CBS News Pittsburgh, Meucci caught COVID in the fall of 2021 and recovered, but still felt off. That nagging sense led to a diagnosis of a brain tumor. AHN neurosurgeon Dr. Matthew Shepard scheduled her surgery for six days later.
The six-hour operation was a success, the station reports. The tumor turned out to be benign and was identified as a meningioma.
Story Time Didn't Stop in the Hospital
Meucci had a tradition of reading bedtime stories to her students, and the day after surgery was one of those days. The station's account says she didn't hesitate to keep it going from her hospital bed. WTAE covered the moment too, reporting that she read the bedtime story to her students on Facebook Live one day after the brain surgery.
When she came back to school, WTAE reports, students and fellow staff members greeted her with posters and fist bumps.
Two Months or Three? The Timeline Differs
Accounts differ on exactly how long recovery took. CBS News Pittsburgh reports that Meucci was back in the classroom within three months. In a later profile, WTAE said she returned to her school two months after doctors removed the tumor.
The same WTAE profile named her its teacher of the month for October 2024. It describes her as a beloved fourth-grade teacher at Benjamin Franklin Elementary School in the Bethel Park School District. Almost five years after surgery, CBS reports, she still goes back for MRIs to make sure everything is good.
What Returning to Work Can Look Like
Meucci's case is part of a much larger group of patients. The National Brain Tumor Society estimates that about 91,000 Americans age 15 and older are diagnosed with a brain tumor each year. The organization advises patients to create a return-to-work plan, which may include reduced working hours at first.
The National Cancer Institute notes that the changes that accompany a brain or spine tumor affect whether a person can return to work. For Meucci, the path back led to a Bethel Park classroom and a roomful of kids with posters and fist bumps.
