The Daily Orange

When Barbara Stivenson tried to bring flowers to the hospitalized wife of a co-worker, she found out the hospital doesn't allow flowers in the rooms of leukemia patients.

"I brought flowers, but when someone has leukemia, the pesticides in flowers would hurt them because you strip the immune system down to nothing," Stivenson said. "I come in with a big basket of flowers, and you can't have that - it's like skulls and crossbones."

So six years ago, Stivenson became involved in promoting awareness and raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) of Central New York. She started with working on Light the Night, an annual promotion run by LLS in which different groups march downtown, holding red balloons for supporters and white balloons for survivors. The groups also pass out information during the event. Now Stivenson is in the running for the LLS of Central New York Woman of the Year Award.

"She has been sending letters to get donations and has a Web site," said Kristen Duggleby, the campaign director at LLS. "She has been collecting auction items, and she has just been extremely accessible in her efforts."

Stivenson sees how debilitating leukemia is, especially for children.

"The biggest reason I do this is when I look at the faces," she said. "There is a little boy and girl of the year, they are sick with leukemia. No parents want their kids to play with kids who have cancer. That's the kind of stuff that just kills you. I work with college kids every day and I think, 'What happens if you had been sick and didn't have the chance to go (to college)?'"

A woman at SU was already involved with LLS and running the university's branch of Light the Night, but there was room for improvement.

Stivenson attended the event six years ago, but only five people from SU showed up. The State University of New York Upstate Medical University had 80 people with matching T-shirts, she said.

The next year, Stivenson took over the event.

Continued...

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