GAIL WHITE Girl's dream of helping kids with cancer is getting off the ground

This Valentine's Day, people around the Valley will be celebrating love with flowers and candy hearts. One area family, however, will be working this Valentine's Day at mending their broken hearts.
For nearly four years, Jessica Moorhead of Austintown battled acute lymphocytic leukemia. On March 5, 2003, Jessica died. But her dreams of a better future for other children with cancer did not.
At the start of 1999, Jessica was your typical 13-year-old, happy, giddy, involved in school and surrounded by friends. Her life changed in September of that year, as she learned of the deadly disease that was ravaging her body. Jessica's battle with leukemia had begun.
Kept her spirit
It is news that would devastate even the most mature of adults. For this young girl of 13, the realization of her condition was devastating, but Jessica never allowed leukemia to overpower her hopes, her dreams or her spirit.
"People would say to me 'How do you do it?'" Jessica's mother, Jenifer, recalls.
"I would tell them, just look at her," Jenifer remembers saying. "How could I not? She is the brightest ray of hope. That is what she stood for."
"She was wonderful," says Dr. Ayman Saleh, director of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology and Stem Cell Transplant at Forum Health Tod Children's Hospital. "She was very balanced and mature, even at her young age. Jessica was beautiful inside, very caring.
"She and I had something I believe was very unique," Jenifer says of her relationship with her daughter. "We were with each other 24/7 all the way from when she was 13 until 16. We would spend hours talking about what she would do once she started feeling better."
For a while, Jessica did feel better. In January 2003, she was at a basketball game with her friends one Friday night.
Monday morning, she was in the hospital on a ventilator.
"I remember thinking, this cannot happen like this," Jenifer, says in sharing her grief.
Her gift
Three weeks before her death, Jessica experienced a resurgence in energy and gave her loved ones one last message that Jenifer refers to as "a gift."
Jessica wrote a letter.
"Please know that even though we don't always get the outcome we want, God has the plan and everything will be OK. Don't allow this to shake your faith. I will see you all again someday in a better place than this. ..."
To the end, Jessica was thinking of others.
"It was amazing, as young as she was, she was so wise," Jenifer says of her daughter.
A bit of that wisdom struck Jenifer early last October.
"It was right after her birthday," Jenifer says in remembering the Sept. 30 date that she did not celebrate with her daughter this year. "It dawned on me that she is feeling better now. I truly believe she was here looking down saying, "Enough misery.' "
That is when Jenifer turned her misery into resolve.
In honor of the beacon of light that Jessica represented to other cancer patients and their families, and in appreciation for the outstanding treatment she received from the oncology program at Tod Children's Hospital, Jenifer and Dr. Saleh created The Jessica Moorhead Foundation for Hope.
"We are dedicated to uniting our community on behalf of its young cancer patients," the mission statement for the Foundation reads. "Our primary emphasis is strengthening Tod Children's Hospital by raising funds to make the pediatric oncology program a source of pride to the Valley and a ray of hope for patients and their families."
First event
On Feb. 21, the Foundation will be hosting its first big event, a benefit reverse raffle and dinner at Ursuline High School called, "Wings of the Dream."
Though she may only attend in spirit, Jessica's dream of giving hope to other cancer patients is about to take flight.
gwhite@vindy.com
XFor details and ticket information, call (330) 881-2106 or go to www.jessicafoundationforhope.org