Highlands students rally behind English teacher battling brain cancer

Kurt Landsberg holds a long list of titles: husband, father, longtime soccer coach and beloved English teacher at Highlands High School.

He recently added another: cancer patient.

Landsberg, 47, of Springdale, was diagnosed in late March with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.

After Landsberg began experiencing issues with memory and cognition, his brother, Mike, took him to Forbes Hospital in Monroe­ville. Landsberg was admitted March 19 and had surgery two days later to remove a large tumor. Soon after, the teacher affectionately nicknamed by students as “Landsdawg” was forced to take a leave from teaching.

He has undergone five of six rounds of chemotherapy and radiation treatment and awaits an MRI in June to determine the treatment’s impact.

News of Landsberg’s diagnosis shocked the Highlands community and prompted a group of students and faculty to take action. They launched a fundraising project selling T-shirts to help offset the financial burden Landsberg and his family face as he fights cancer.

“I’m overwhelmed by the support that I’ve gotten from the kids, students, teachers and faculty since everything that I’ve been through,” Landsberg said, struggling to contain his emotion. “I haven’t gotten to see many of the kids recently, but I’m getting such positive messages from them, and it means the world.”

The T-shirt drive reflects the students’ fondness for Landsberg. The front features a soccer ball emblem with the Landsdawg nickname in the middle. The back displays a definition of the word “strong,” with a caption reading, “see also: Landsberg.”

“We just had a lot of fun times in his class. He was always nice and kind to me,” said senior Jack Ford, one of the students who came up with the fundraiser idea. “He always showed the most respect to the students and tried to help everybody out as much as he possibly could.”

Landsberg, originally from Murrysville, is completing his 25th year at Highlands. He also is a longtime soccer coach. His passion for playing growing up led him to pursue coaching. Landsberg spent more than two decades coaching various teams in the region. He oversaw the girls team at Highlands before serving as an assistant coach at Franklin Regional High School and the Allegheny Force Football Club organization.

“I was relatively healthy, played and coached soccer, and fairly active,” Landsberg said. “This is all so sudden.”

Landsberg’s sons, Keegan, 13, and Ryder, 11, share his love of soccer.

Though Landsberg is not able to return to work because of his illness, his influence at Highlands remains strong.

“As a teacher and a coach, you don’t necessarily see the impact that you’ve had until after the fact,” Landsberg said.

Ford brought the T-shirt idea to teacher Michelle Dickerson, who put him in touch with Michael Santucci’s manufacturing class. The desire to raise money for the Landsberg family was shared, and the group decided to sell T-shirts.

After the students received approval from the Highlands administration, others expressed interest in helping. Some were Highlands alumni, current students of Landsberg’s and freshmen who had never even met the teacher.

“Kurt’s just a great guy,” said Santucci, who has taught at Highlands for about 15 years. “He is a very compassionate and enthusiastic teacher. He works really well with the kids and has been a soccer coach for many years. It really struck our community to its core when we heard the news about Kurt and his family. In times like this, people sometimes feel helpless, and they just want to do something to help.”

The group pre-ordered 100 shirts for the first batch. After selling them all, the students and faculty completed a second order. Between the two rounds, they sold about 220 shirts. They marketed the initiative through word of mouth, the school’s morning announcements, social media and posters around the high school.

The shirts sold for $15, with larger sizes going for around $20. This nets about $10 per shirt benefiting the Landsberg family. The total proceeds from the fundraiser amounted to about $2,500.

There is potential for another T-shirt order to occur in the fall.

Additionally, a GoFundMe account for the family has exceeded $35,000.

“It obviously means a lot to the students to be able to help out, and that reflects the type of guy that Kurt is,” Santucci said.

On May 27, one of the last days that Highlands will have in-person classes this school year, everyone who purchased a shirt plans to wear it to show support for Landsberg. Community members plan to take pictures and selfies that they will post on social media, tagging the GoFundMe.

“The support has been fantastic,” Landsberg said, “and it is one of the things that has kept me whole and grounded.”