Canfield students raise funds to help classmate
The halls of Canfield Middle School were a little less cheery this fall. Missing was a smiling, red-haired classmate who was known for his quick wit and funny faces. Scott Lee was diagnosed with leukemia two weeks before school began and his classmates were distraught.
“I felt really bad,” said Sara Griffin, 13. “All the worst things can happen to the best people.”
Her friends agreed that they wanted to do something to help. So along with Josh Weistaner, Jayden Suttlemyre and Hailey Wilson, the four eighth-graders tapped into the spirit of Lance Armstrong’s LIVESTRONG campaign and forged a plan. They designed bracelets in green, blue and white, the colors of Scott’s favorite football team, the Seahawks. They are also the shades of sky and wilderness, to represent how Scott loves to hunt. The vivid armbands arrived from an Internet company and were engraved with a simple message: Support Scott Lee.
The friends wanted Scott to know that they cared and that the school cared. The foursome split into pairs and made rounds into classrooms to ask for donations. They started the campaign in the sixth-grade classes and explained who Scott was, how they knew him and what his interests were. The youngsters opened their wallets and poured out their change.
“A lot of the kids who donated didn’t even know him,” Hailey said. “We wanted people to know he was just an average kid and it could happen to anybody.”
Jayden met Scott in kindergarten. She knows him as the one who is first to crack a joke and spark a smile.
“He’s really funny,” Jayden said. “He tries to make people laugh.”
As the students campaigned for Scott, they fielded questions about how one gets leukemia and what it is. They researched online so they could give accurate answers and learned that the disease makes Scott’s immune system weak and susceptible to infections.
“We’re not supposed to visit him even if we’re the teeniest bit sick,” Sara said.
They asked for $5 per bracelet, but found that many people gave more. By November’s end 200 bracelets were sold and the donations neared $1,700. Posters lined the school walls and the four friends spent parent-teacher conference day sitting at a table in the halls. They urged parents to contribute and told them about Scott. Many in the community recognized him as the seventh of eight children to Jim and Paula Lee.
Scott turned 14 soon after his diagnosis. Josh knew Scott from the football team.
“He was one of the players that got us going,” Josh said. “He’s a leader.”
It was at football practice when Josh realized that his friend was sick. Scott slept a lot over the summer months and joined his team with no energy, pale skin and frequent nosebleeds.
“It was so weird,” Josh said. “One day he’s doing fine and the next day he’s in bed.”
Scott’s condition, acute lymphocytic leukemia, is the most common childhood leukemia. It is a cancer of the blood cells and to survive, Scott will require chemotherapy treatments for 3 1/2 years. He’s grown to 5 feet 8 inches and towers above his petite female physician, despite being told that the medicines would stunt his growth. He spent opening day of hunting season in the hospital, but still managed to get outdoors long enough to shoot a white-tailed buck this fall.
Scott studies at home now and watches hunting shows on television. He reserves his humorous quips for his family and medical staff, since he can’t be around crowds.
“He’s got a great attitude,” said his mother. “He’s so funny, we’re always laughing.”
Paula Lee finds the attention to the family and Scott is a little embarrassing. As faithful churchgoers, her family has often been the one to bring meals and offer help to those in need. Now she accepts others’ generosity gratefully, with the knowledge that the givers benefit when they can feel of use.
“It helps them as much as it helps us,” she said.
She is impressed that the school has become a place for students to learn how to serve. Students who barely know Scott are wearing his name on their wrist and pledging support. Hats, meals and clothing are dropped off at the Lee’s home.
The bracelet sales taught Scott’s classmates that even the smallest gifts matter.
“All of it helps, from a penny to $50,” Sara said. “Anything helps to someone who is trying to live. We’re just doing a small part of what should be done to help people.”
Scott’s classmates hope that the money will help with medicines or any of the extra expenses that a family incurs when someone is ill. They imagine that gas bills run high since Scott travels to Spokane for treatments as much as four times per week.
Despite the sadness they feel for an absent classmate, the four Canfield students are glad that they joined together and gathered support from so many. All agree that they would do it all over again.
“It just feels good, just to know that in some way you helped someone,” Jayden said.