Teacher with terminal brain cancer who traveled the nation to meet former students and ask if he made a difference to their lives passes away aged 41

• David Menasche, 41, has died from the incurable brain cancer that had left him almost blind and affected the left side of his body
• The Florida English teacher had traveled the nation to meet former students after becoming too ill to teach
• His journey took him to 31 cities across the nation, over 8,000 miles and to 75 eleventh graders he used to teach
• Wanted to know if he had made a difference in his students life

By David Mccormack and James Nye for MailOnline

Published: 21:03 EST, 23 November 2014 | Updated: 23:59 EST, 23 November 2014

A cancer-ravaged teacher who traveled across the country visiting former students to see what difference he had made to their lives has died age 41.

David Menasche was an English teacher at a Miami school when he was given just months to live after being diagnosed with stage 4 brain cancer in 2006.

When his cancer robbed him of his ability to continue teaching, he decided to end his treatments and reconnect with his former students.

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David Menasche was diagnosed with stage 4 brain cancer in 2006, but lived for another eight years during which the Miami English teacher went on an amazing journey

‘David passed away early this morning at home, surrounded by his family. He is, and will always be, loved,’ a family member wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday.

Earlier this year Menasche published his memoir, The Priority List: A Teacher’s Final Quest To Discover Life’s Great Lessons, but told the story of his 101-day 'Vision Quest' during which he traveled more than 8,000 miles, visiting 75 former students in 31 cities.

A movie version of the book is in the works with Steve Carell playing Menasche.

The actor was one of the many people who took to social media to offer their condolences after learning about Menasche’s death.

‘R.I.P. David Menasche. Beloved teacher. A man who changed lives,’ Carell tweeted.

More than 200 Facebook users commented on the post announcing Menasche’s death.

Actor Steve Carell, who is set to play the teacher in a film version of his memoir, tweeted this tribute to David Menasche

Menasche's memoir, The Priority List: A Teacher’s Final Quest To Discover Life’s Great Lessons, tells the story of his 101-day 'Vision Quest' during which he traveled more than 8,000 miles, visiting 75 former students in 31 cities - it is being turned into a movie with Steve Carell due to play the teacher

“You were a true inspiration. Thank you for the lessons you taught us, even those of us who were not privileged enough to have been in your physical classroom,” one commenter wrote.

Menasche had spent 15-years teaching at Coral Reef Senior High School in Miami but three invasive surgeries, two-and-a-half years of chemotherapy and 30 rounds of radiation therapy had left him almost-blind and with limited mobility.

Unable to continue teaching his 11th graders, Menasche set off in November 2012 on a countrywide trip to meet his former students to simply ask them if he had made a difference in their lives.

The Mark Twain devotee dubbed his journey the 'Vision Quest' and in August of 2012, Menasche posted a message to Facebook, asking if any of his 3,000 former Coral Reef alumni wanted to meet him, reminisce about his lessons and most importantly - let him sleep on their couch.

Menasche, who had separated from his wife when he began to plan his final trip, was astounded to receive replies from students in 50 cities across the United States.

Menasche had spent 15-years teaching at Coral Reef Senior High School in Miami but three invasive surgeries, two-and-a-half years of chemotherapy and 30 rounds of radiation therapy had left him almost-blind and with limited mobility

Despite a seizure robbing him of his sight and the use of most of the left side of his body, Menasche resolved to undertake the trip on his own by bus.

I just wanted that sense of satisfaction that the time I did have I used well,' he told USA Today in January.

The oldest of his students were in their early 30s - some with families of their own - and the popular English teacher wanted to 'get caught up and see the results of my work.'

The inspirational teacher spent 101 days on the road and visited 31 cities across 8,000 miles, speaking to 75 former students who lived as far afield as Hawaii.

One ex-pupil was Stephan Palahach, who is now an aspiring screenwriter in New York City.

He told USA Today that Menasche was 'one of the few teachers I felt who were really present. I've had great teachers in my life, but he was really present in the moment.'

Nationwide: This map shows pins set down across the United States where David Menasche met former students - traveling 8,000 miles by bus and air in the process

‘David passed away early this morning at home, surrounded by his family. He is, and will always be, loved,’ a family member wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday

The former student and one-time teacher spent time together talking and going to the movies.

'There was a fleeting moment when we were sitting around a computer sharing silly Internet videos together and laughing,' Palahach said.

'He ceased to be my old teacher, and he was definitely a friend.'

His failing health was never an excuse and Menasche made it to Boston, Chicago, San Diego, Los Angeles, Portland, Hawaii and Minneapolis among other cities.

Along the way he discovered something poignant and wonderful: 'It seems like it was not a wasted life,' he said. 'I wasn't so sure - I honestly wasn't.'

Diagnosed with terminal brain cancer the day before Thanksgiving in 2006, aged 34 - Menasche was told then he had less than a year to live.

The inspirational teacher spent 101 days on the road and visited 31 cities across 8,000 miles, speaking to 75 former students who lived as far afield as Hawaii

Refusing to be bowed by this death sentence, he threw himself into his work.

'For six years, the only time I wasn't in class was when I was undergoing brain surgery. I never avoided the topic of my cancer, glioblastoma multiforme, with my students, but it was not something I dwelled on, nor did they,' he said to CNN.

'I covered my bald, lacerated head with a woolen hat and scheduled chemotherapy around my classes, and I got so good at being sick that I could run to the bathroom, heave into the toilet, flush, brush my teeth and fly back to class in under three minutes. They pretended not to notice.'

Then in the summer of 2012 he was hit by a huge seizure which robbed him of his ability to teach any longer.

'The cancer had finally succeeded in taking me out of the classroom, but I wasn't ready to let it take me out of the game,' said Menasche to CNN. 'I wasn't afraid to die. I was afraid of living without a purpose.'

Champion: David poses with the statue of Rocky at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, left, and with former students in Memphis, Tennessee

The greatest lesson that Menasche learned on his journey was that he made the most difference in what he and his students came to dub 'intimate interludes' between classes, 'when we shared heartaches and vulnerabilities and victories.'

'To learn this meant the world to me, it really did,' said Menasche to CNN.

'The truth of it is those were the moments when I was trying my hardest, when I really wanted to be at my very best, so that I could set an example for them that they could look to.

'It was just overwhelming the generosity and love that I got back.'

'Not only did they give my life meaning while I was a teacher, even after I left the class room they continued to give me a sense of purpose.'