Special Education Teacher’s Legacy

EL PASO, TX. – A few months ago ABC-7reported on an El Paso special education teacher who was battling cancer.

She put up a good fight, but Saturday night, she lost the battle. At Bonham Elementary, Beatriz Barraza is being remembered after teachingfor 15 years. She died Saturday night in her home surrounded by friends and family.

She was described as a loving teacher with an infectious laugh, great attitude and a fighter until the very end.

“I’ve had parents, I had a student here, fabulous parents, fabulous children. And they all love me,” said Beatriz in September after going before the El Paso School District Board asking them to approve the funding that would give her another chance to beat a rare form of cancer.

“Bea,” as her friends and family knew her, went in for a treatment that could have potentially kept the special education teacher alive. “She was pumped and optimistic,” Bea’s husband Danny said.

They had to go before the school board because even though her rare form of cancer behaves and acts like ovarian cancer, it wasn’t and insurers wouldn’t pay for it.

“It was a kick in the gut,” Danny said.He added that it’sdifficult to say if those two weeks Bea lost arguing with the insurance companyand going before the school board could have made a difference.

He said he hopes her struggle makes a difference.”I understand thatI have a rare condition, but we need to look outside the box,” Beatriz said to the school board.Danny Barraza adds that Bea’s cancer could’ve been caught early if a simple blood test had been done.

He says every woman should ask their ob-gyn for the CA-125 blood test duringtheir next visit.

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Written for broadcast by Celina Avila

Edited for KVIA.com by Miguel Martinez