Benefit Saturday for leukemia patient

Jesse Garland and Kelli Cook’s friendship started on North Central High School’s stage almost a decade ago.

Although Cook was just a freshman on the crew of the production of “Our Town,” Garland, a senior, befriended her.

Now, Garland, 25, is facing a real-life drama after being diagnosed with leukemia in March. Cook, his girlfriend now, hopes the community will come out to support the man who served his country, aspires to be a teacher and ate lunch with her every day in the school cafeteria.

“Even with … what could be a terminal illness, Jesse is still full of more color and life than most,” Cook wrote in a letter.

A benefit will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Spokane Valley Elks Lodge, 2605 N. Robie Road, to raise money for Garland’s medical bills and transportation to Seattle for a possible bone-marrow transplant. The event includes live music, craft, bake and rummage sales and raffles for prizes donated by local businesses.

Cook said in an interview that Garland’s positive outlook is helping him overcome setbacks.

“You have to have a good attitude,” Cook said. “We look at this as a speed bump.”

Garland, an Army veteran, had to halt his studies after getting sick. He was on course to become a foreign-language teacher and recently spent time working with educators at his alma mater.

Garland learned Russian in the Army. He speaks Russian and German fluently, Cook said.

When he put his education on hold to battle his disease, Garland lost his G.I. Bill tuition benefits. Meanwhile, the government doesn’t cover his medical expenses.

He could collect a monthly $600 disability check, but doing so would make him ineligible for Medicaid.

“I thought it would be so simple,” Cook said. “I thought, ‘He’s a vet. Of course they’ll take care of him.’ ”

Doctors at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle told Garland that chemotherapy, his current treatment, will only buy him a 10 percent chance of survival, Cook said. A bone-marrow transplant will greatly improve his prognosis, she said.

Garland moved into his aunt’s West Central Spokane home recently to save money, but soon faced another blow. When heavy rains hit two weeks ago, sewage flooded the basement, ruining many of his belongings.

Family and friends, including some of Garland’s former teachers who call him often to check in, are lending him support. But when it comes to attitude, Garland doesn’t need much assistance.

“Whenever someone says, ‘I’m sorry this is happening to you,’ Jesse casually replies, ‘Better me than someone else,’ ” Cook wrote.

For more information on the benefit event or to make a donation, call Diane Olson of the Elks Lodge, at 217-0028.

To get to the lodge, take the Pines-Opportunity exit of Interstate 90, turn north onto Pines, left onto Marietta and left again onto Robie Road.