June 5, 2003
HILLCREST — Candee Carden saw her good friend, Anne Lockwood, lose her battle with leukemia five years ago. She doesn't want that to happen again.
That's why Candee, 15, of Hillcrest, went to her youth group at St. Catherine's Church to organize a benefit concert for 7-year-old Steven Spittle, who also has leukemia.
The Town of Chenango boy was diagnosed in September, though it's still not clear if his case is connected to the six childhood cancers in Hillcrest in the late 1990s.
The concert will be held at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the St. Catherine's School gym, next to the church. The building is being used by the Chenango Valley Middle School while its building is under renovation. The program, which costs $5, will feature the bands Wooster and NineCubed as well as DJ Pulse.
Candee doesn't know Steven, but she said she felt compelled to do something to help him.
"You saw him in church, and it broke your heart," she said.
Joseph Tiesi, director of religious education and youth programming at the church, organized the event with the Rev. Brian Lang, church pastor.
"The teenagers in the youth group came to me and said, 'We want to do something special for this kid,' " Tiesi said. "These are great kids."
Most of the organizers of the event are sophomores at Chenango Valley High School and are classmates of Steven's brother, Eric. The performers are all students at the high school, too.
"We were offered proceeds from the food and drink sales, but we're giving it all to the family," said Bill Henderson, 15, the lead singer of NineCubed.
Steven's mother, Barb Spittle, has been in Manhattan since Sunday while he undergoes chemotherapy at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. She said she appreciated the teens' efforts, though she isn't sure if the family will return in time to attend the benefit.
"We are deeply touched," Barb Spittle said. "You hear so much bad about teenagers, but this shows how good they really are."
Spittle said Candee is a "wonderful girl" for her efforts.
Candee said she was motivated just by looking into Steven's eyes.
"I saw my friend's face in his," she said. "I could see in his eyes the same battle that she was fighting."
e-mail: wahmad@pressconnects.com.
© 2003 Press & Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton, N.Y.