BERLIN, Conn. -- A dying wish for a little boy who has leukemia has touched hearts of some students in Berlin.

With some help from their teacher, some middle school students are tying to help get a 7-year-old Canadian boy into the record books.

How To Help Shane What Is? Leukemia

Shane Bernier, of Ontario, Canada, has had his leukemia relapse after almost two years of treatment.

To focus on something positive, Shane wants to break a world record -- and students at McGee Middle School in Berlin are trying to help, Channel 3 Eyewitness News reporter Mike Hydeck reported.

"We talk about it at lunch and going to classes, everyone's moved by it and they want to do something to help out," said Laine Blankenburg, a McGee eighth-grader.

The students are going to crank out 3,000 birthday cards and send them to Shane before his birthday on May 31.

"It's just, like, to put a smile on his face because I know it's a hard thing to go through," said Laine, whose father died of prostate cancer when she was 5.

Chris Napierkowski, a McGee student who lost his grandmother, remembered his loved one.

"She battled cancer for a year and my dad decided to stop," he said of his grandmother's passing.

After seeing Shane's story on Eyewitness News This Morning on Wednesday, the students at McGee said they had to help.

The world record currently stands at 350 million birthday cards sent to a person. Shane currently has about 125,000.

"I thought that since I taught every child at McGee School -- sixth, seventh and eighth -- within a six-day span that we could do it," said Cindy Koniushesky, a McGee teacher.

"Just to know you're trying to help a kid out that's struggling and battling through cancer makes a difference in your day," said Matt Gianoni, a McGee student.

"I just took some computer paper and I just make cards by hand with marker and colored pencils because if I was in that situation, I would want cards, too," said Sara Zukowski, a McGee student.

Hydeck reported parents are so touched by this story that they are paying for postage to get the cards to Shane in a timely fashion.

More Information

You can send Shane a card, to the address that follows:

Shane Bernier
P.O. Box 484
Lancaster, Ontario
K0C 1N0
Canada

Link: Shane's Web site

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