Volunteers plant spring-flowering bulbs for cancer patients
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Steve Mellon, Post-GazetteClick photo for larger image
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
It's about 20 degrees on a cold but sunny Saturday morning. The low angle of the early December sun doesn't really help warm things up much, but Sami Sweeney, 13, of Frankin Park is on her hands and knees planting daffodil bulbs into the cold soil of Kat McFarland's garden in the Beaver County community of Baden.
Ms. McFarland has just finished six months of chemotherapy for colon cancer and knows first-hand how debilitating it is. Hair falls out. Hands swell. Fatigue levels soar.
Even though she's capable of putting in her own bulbs, these daffodils are planted by these volunteers to provide a symbol of hope.
Sami is one of a group of five teens and two adults spending this frigid day volunteering for a program called Hair Peace.
The group originally began to provide wigs for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, but has expanded to provide many needed services to those who are ill. Founded by Pittsburgh radio personality Bonny Diver-Hall, herself a breast cancer survivor, it operates under the auspices of Ingomar United Methodist Church, where she's a member. "It's just a hard time when you're ill to try and deal with the things that keep your life in balance," Mrs. Diver-Hall said.
This day, she and her volunteers will offer one of those small things that help keep life in balance: The promise of spring flowers.
"After winter is over, and you've gone through this cold kind of dark season, it's just so nice that something can come out of the earth and grow," she says.
"They'll still remember the kids when they come up in the spring. We're still here, we're still praying for you we're still part of your recovery."
First Published December 14, 2005 12:00 am
