Kevin Kelly/Key photo Joe Epperson, family friend, calls the raffle at the 'Team Lanie' fund-raiser April 26 for 3-year-old Lanie Gardner.

But more than 500 people coming mainly from three Clay County parishes - Holy Family, where Lanie's family worships, St. Charles Borromeo where Lanie's big sister Halle attends kindergarten, and Good Shepherd where Lanie's Grandma Maurine works - paid $10 each April 26 to eat a meatball sandwich at Holy Family Parish to raise funds for the 3-year-old girl battling an extremely rare form of leukemia.

The dinner, the silent auction, the live auction, and sales of various "Team Lanie" items - T-shirts, shoelaces and wristbands - raised some $40,000. But it also raised the awareness that the Gardner family is far from alone as Lanie recovers from an April 24 bone marrow transplant that could save her life.

It's what the Catholic Church is truly all about, said Father Matt Brumleve, Holy Family pastor. "Absolutely."

"The Gospels this weekend is Jesus saying, 'If you love me, keep my commandments.' What were his commandments? 'Love God, and love your neighbor as yourself.' We are seeing that in action tonight," Father Brumleve said.

They aren't finished yet. On May 15 from 2 to 6 p.m., St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Oakview will hold a bone marrow screening to beef up the National Bone Marrow Program Registry so that more people whose lives can be saved will be matched with more people willing to save them.

Another screening will be held from 9 a.m. to noon May 18 at St. Therese Parish in Parkville.

That issue is especially close to the heart of St. Charles pastor Father Ken Riley. He has twice been matched with recipients, one of whom is still alive and one of whom had his life extended by six months through his gift.

He joined the national registry in 1994 when it required his blood to be drawn. These days, all it takes is a completely painless swab of tissues inside the mouth, Father Riley said.

"It was a real honor knowing I could give back quality of life to another person, and knowing that I did something good with something that will grow right back inside me," he said.

The event was not only remarkable in the turnout and the money raised, but in how quickly it all came together. Lanie did not receive her diagnosis until mid-March from doctors at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City.

Beth Epperson, best friend of Lanie's mother, Cortney, since their days at Oak Park High School, got on her horse and began gathering food donations and auction donations. People gave sports memorabilia, including a Mickey Mantle-autographed baseball. Dr. Jeff Boomer, of the Hunkeler Eye Institute, donated two laser vision correction procedures valued at $4,800 each.

And even the pastors got into the act. Up for auction was dinner for 18, hosted by Fathers Riley and Brumleve, and Good Shepherd pastor Father Greg Haskamp.

"Greg and I will be in charge of hospitality," Father Brumleve joked. "Ken will do the cooking."

Volunteers were also easy to find.

Julie Pickert, campus minister at St. Pius X High School, said that all she had to do was ask. Twenty-five St. Pius students showed up to set up tables, serve food and clean up after.

"They all have a heart of service," Pickert said, noting that just two weeks before, St. Pius students had raised some $10,000 for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation on behalf of a student with that chronic illness.

"When they hear the stories of people, it tugs at their heartstrings," Pickert said. "I told them the story of Lanie in my religion classes, and these kids felt strongly that they wanted to be here and help."

Lanie's parents, Andy and Cortney Gardner, didn't even realize their child was ill until Cortney received a call at work from a teacher at Lanie's pre-school, concerned about bruises on the child's body.

"Cortney took her to Children's Mercy the next day," said Maurine Gardner, Andy's mother.

Doctors quickly discovered a high elevation of white blood cells that the body uses to fight off infection. These weren't the white cells ordinarily found in a 3-year-old, but fully mature cells found in adults.

They also discovered that Lanie's liver and spleen were swollen.

"She had six of the eight markers for leukemia," Maurine Gardner said.

But it took another two months before doctors at Children's Mercy pinpointed exactly what kind of leukemia was ravaging Lanie's body. The news went from worst to even worse than that. It was a strain called JMML, a particularly virulent kind that makes up less than 1 percent of all the cancer diagnoses in children in the United States.

"You cry a lot," said Christie Arndt, another of Lanie's three grandmothers. "Then you do a lot of research, and you spend a lot of time with them.

"Sometimes you call, and Lanie will pick up the phone," said Sue Britten, also Lanie's grandmother. She always wants to know about Daisy," the family's golden retriever puppy. "Then you get off the phone and cry some more."

"We say, 'Why, God? Why this child?'" Maurine Gardner said. "Then we say, 'Please, God. We want this child back.'"

Lanie's only hope was a bone marrow transplant. And the best place on the planet with the most experienced surgeon was Children's Medical Center in Cincinnati and Dr. Stella Davies, who performed some 73 of the procedures last year alone compared to 12 performed by the entire surgical team at Kansas City's Children Mercy.

Fortunately, the Gardners are well insured. The insurance plan even pays for the expenses so that Andy and Cortney can be with their daughter in Cincinnati.

But the insurance plan has a $2 million lifetime cap. Each bone marrow transplant will cost $500,000, not counting pre-surgery tests and hospital expenses. Lanie will likely need at least two.

The Gardners are also facing other expenses that insurance won't cover. Because Lanie's immune system is compromised, they have to remove every scrap of germ-carrying carpeting from their home and install new hardwood flooring. Cortney also had quit her job to care for her daughter full time.

Doctors also told the family that the transplant and subsequent chemotherapy would cause all of Lanie's hair to fall out. Just after she and her parents left for Cincinnati, the male members of her family, and even unrelated friends such as Shawn Cain, had their heads shaved cueball smooth.

"I thought it was a good thing to do," said Cain, a family friend. "Anything to make her feel better."

That's what grown men do when their hearts have been stolen by a three-year-old girl.

END