Cancer Patient Getting Halloween Help

Heather Munroe needs other people’s blood to live. And she needs a lot of it. This Halloween, the 16-year-old San Clemente High School sophomore will receive some help thanks to employees at the Capistrano Unified School District.

Just two weeks after her 15th birthday, doctors diagnosed Heather’s condition as acute lymphoblastic leukemia, more commonly known as cancer of the blood. That was a year ago.

Today Heather, who is in chemically induced remission, attends classes when she is not undergoing treatments for her illness.

“It’s amazing how you can remember the day your child was born and the day she was diagnosed,” Linda Munroe said Thursday before taking her daughter for a chemotherapy treatment at Children’s Hospital of Orange County.

Munroe, a Capistrano district employee, said her daughter has remained a trouper despite chemotherapy and a painful bone marrow procedure that allows her to use her own purified blood. Doctors have cautioned that 8-week to 12-week series of treatments will be needed for the next three years, Munroe said.

Halloween seemed fitting for a blood drive, said Janice Thompson, a district accounting technician.

“Linda’s daughter really has had a fight on her hands to stay alive and a bunch of us here just wanted to help,” Thompson said.

The American Red Cross will roll out several Bloodmobiles on Halloween across the county to ensure a stable blood supply for Heather and others.

So far 23 district employees have signed up for the Capistrano drive, which will be held from noon to 5:15 p.m. next Friday at district offices, 32972 Calle Perfecto. To schedule an appointment, call (714) 489-7394.

Halloween blood drives will also be held at the California Highway Patrol offices at 2031 E. Santa Clara Ave. in Santa Ana, from 10 a.m. to 3:15 p.m., and at Martin Luther Hospital Education Center, 1830 E. Romneya Ave. in Anaheim, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.