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Principal battling cancer gets 'really sweet, amazing' surprise 

'Some of these people drove an hour probably to be here.'
Posted at 11:07 PM, Apr 26, 2020
and last updated 2020-04-27 11:44:12-04

GOOCHLAND COUNTY, Va. -- Staffers at a Louisa County school pulled off a "top-secret" surprise for their beloved principal outside his home Sunday afternoon.

Trevilians Elementary School Principal Gary Black has been battling stage two pancreatic cancer for months.

“November’s when they started all the testing and then they came up with a diagnosis middle of January," the 47-year-old Black said. “Pancreatic cancer, you know it all came very quickly."

Black's colleagues have been doing what they can to help, said Trevilians Elementary Assistant Principal Christy Conway, who helped orchestrate the surprise parade outside his Goochland home.

Dozens of staffers from Trevilians Elementary and Louisa County Public Schools met at the Food Lion parking lot not far from Black's house to assemble.

“Some of these people drove an hour probably to be here," Conway said. “We’ve been trying to do everything we can to support him -- and I think he’s about to find that out in a big way.”

Black was stunned when he heard sirens outside his house.

“First I said, 'What did my teenage daughter do?'" Black laughed. “Tears come to your eyes a little bit when you finally realize what’s going on.”

Black said seeing the steady stream of familiar faces he has missed for months drive along his circular drive was awe-inspiring.

“People taking a couple hours out of their Sunday to do something like this, it’s just really sweet and really cool for them to do that, so that means a lot to me,” Black said.

“We love you,” friends said as they drove past Black's home.