ESCONDIDO -- Carilyn Gilbert, a member of the Escondido Union School District board for four years and a candidate for a second term, said this week she is once again fighting ovarian cancer.

As with two previous bouts with cancer, Gilbert, 64, said she doesn't intend to let it affect her work as an Escondido Union School District trustee.

"I'm perfectly aware that the odds are not great, but the odds were less than great (before)," she said. "I mean, really, they did not think I'd even be here."

She continued, "I look at it as 'Those are just statistics; I don't have to be those statistics.' I intend to beat it and fight it until they come up with a cure."

Gilbert's roots in the district run deep. She taught first grade and kindergarten there for 17 years, retiring in 1999. Her now-grown sons attended its schools, as will her toddler granddaughter.

"I love that job," Gilbert said of the school board. "I feel like we're making a difference. … With or without the disease, I would have chosen to run."

Gilbert said she was first diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy just before she was first elected to the board in November 2000.

Two years later, doctors told her she had widespread ovarian cancer, and had six months to live.

After chemotherapy, surgery and then more chemotherapy, Gilbert was in remission for 17 months, she said.

Last summer, blood tests showed the ovarian cancer was back. Gilbert is now in the middle of a chemotherapy cycle that will end in January, she said.

"And then we'll see what happens, and if not (cured) then we'll do something else," Gilbert said. "I'm determined."

That spirit extends to her seat on the school board. When she had the mastectomy in 2000, newly elected fellow board members Zoe Carpenter and Linda Woods helped decorate the hospital room with campaign posters.

Just two weeks after her surgery, Gilbert visited classrooms at Juniper School, said Brenda Jones, Juniper's principal at the time.

"She really wanted to be there on the campus, with teachers and with children," recalled Jones, now principal of Rincon Middle School. "That was part of her healing process."

Cancer has not affected Gilbert's work on the school board, nor has Gilbert missed any meetings because of it, said Carpenter, who is board president this year.

The two regularly pair up to visit the district's 19 campuses, and Gilbert's past teaching experience is always helpful, Carpenter said.

"When she walks in a room, there is an essence, there's a feeling that comes with it -- that she knows what's she's doing, that she enjoys being where she is and she loves the kids and that she cares about the people in the room," she said.

The visits are voluntary. The school board establishes policy and oversees the district's budget. In this district, trustees generally receive a monthly $400 stipend, said Superintendent Mike Caston.

Late last year, after Caston learned he had a form of leukemia and would need chemotherapy, Gilbert was his example, he said.

"I watched how she handled it and tried to learn from her and handle it the same way," said Caston, who is now in remission. "She's a person who is an inspiration to everybody in the school district."

Contact staff writer Tanya Rodrigues at (760) 740-5420 or trodrigues@nctimes.com.