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Dear Sisters,    I have read your posts the past few weeks about the different needs in your wards on the compassionate service spectrum & want to let you know ideas we have come up with as a Relief Society.  As a R.S. Pres. I feel a great need for our ward to serve each family no matter what the problems are that come up, or who has family available etc. & to say the least our ward is very close!

This weekend we had a sister become very sick & has always been healthy!  They took her to the ER  thinking she had the flu & she was showing no signs of getting better after 4 days!  She ended up needing a blood transfusion & then got so sick that night they sent her to Colorado to a better hospital (1hr away if the roads are good) & this a.m. they did a bone marrow biopsy......Well test results came back that she has leukemia!  We are all shocked & devastated!  But we are pulling together!  Holidays are coming, The semester was almost over for school (both her & husband & other family members are students)

Already the phones are ringing off the hook with people wanting to serve & know what they can do!

Here are some of the things we are planning, (lots of things are limited because of her condition) & she will be in the hospital for the next 3 wks. with chemo. treatments:

1     Visits weekly with a care basket/package.....including games, videos, bubble bath, books, baked goods for family to snack on, etc.  (Lots of stuff that can be will be borrowed & returned each week so it won't be a financial burden to any family & not to be a clutter for them while in the hospital )

2     This week we are going to begin video recording Relief Society & other fun things ( Video-ing nephews, etc.) so she can watch from bed.

3     We are going to take our "Spotlight & Announcement time" to have each sister write her a uplifting & encouraging card!

4     Babysitting & meals for other family so they can go to be with her.  (Their Father died almost 1 yr. ago & they have all had a tough time with that & now this will be draining  also.)

5     Meals when she returns.

6     Then Next Sunday I am going to have the sisters bring their favorite thought & have each sister attach it with ribbon to a Silk flower & make her a arrangement to brighten her room (can't have real flowers or plants).

7     Then depending on how things go.....  Maybe buying a nightshirt or robe for her to wear in the hospital (plain but warm at Wal-mart) & at homemaking letting the sisters write (with fabric pens) their happiest memory or funny things they have experienced with her so that she will have something else to brighten the bad days!

8     Name is in the temple & we as a ward are also praying & fasting!

9     A blood drive including the whole stake is in the process of being organized!

10     Fundraisers & such are being planned.

We are still working on ideas!  But I am hoping that those of you that have been looking for ideas this might help!  I personally don't think that it should all be left up to the family cause In every case I have experienced it is just as hard on the family as it is the person going through it!  My thoughts: "A support system of 10+ is great, but a support system of 150+ is awesome!"

Thanks for listening to me & any feed back from those of you who have been through the struggle of leukemia, I would love to hear from you!  It has been a hard 2 days & I know will be tough!  Hugs, Jeanna

Compassionate service ideas/Leukemia
Contributor: Jane F.

Sisters - you have all read lately about the ideas for helping our sister who was in a serious accident celebrate her birthday.  I thought I would tell you what we did for her about a month after her accident when she was finally out of ICU and able to have gifts, flowers etc.

We asked the sisters who would like to (about half participated), purchase and wrap small gifts (small in size and cost).  We then put them in a cardboard box covered with wrapping paper - I was lucky enough to find some covered in small faces.  We then had her family deliver the box to her.  She opened one gift each day.  Her family told us that this was a high point of her day as she struggled physically and emotionally through those first weeks of therapy.