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Teacher battling cancer receives donated sick time
People are coming together within the Seminole County Schools Community to help Tyler Backel. He is in his first year of teaching at Oviedo High School and was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in November 2023. Teachers and others who saw the post offered to donate their sick time to help him as he undergoes treatment.
OVIEDO, Fla. - A mother’s online plea has garnered hundreds of social media shares.
People are coming together within the Seminole County Schools Community to help Tyler Backel. He is in his first year of teaching at Oviedo High School and was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in November 2023. Teachers and others who saw the post offered to donate their sick time to help him as he undergoes treatment.
His mother, Michelle Backel, is the mastermind behind the social post.
"Tyler is extremely smart, funny, and compassionate," she said.
He teaches students with special needs at OHS. He graduated from the school in 2014 and also played football there.
"He loves working with kids. He feels like this is where he’s meant to be."
His father, Richard Backel, agrees.
"He’s funny, he’s outgoing, he is just a good soul," he said.
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Aside from his teaching career, Oviedo High connected him to his wife, Cindy Backel.
"We sat next to each other in freshman year English, then we ended up going to the same college in Fort Myers, and the rest is history," she told FOX 35.
He married his wife Cindy on New Year’s Eve of 2021. Fast-forward to November, he received his cancer diagnosis.
"His literal words were, ‘It felt like I got kicked in the stomach,’" Michelle Backel explained.
She was devastated when she found out. So, as any mother would, she used her quick thinking to help her son. The Facebook post essentially asked Seminole County Public Schools teachers to donate their time.
"Rich and I posted that Monday night, not expecting it to be shared like it was," she said. Richard added, "There’s good people in the world. You don’t see it every day."
The family has also established a GoFundMe account.