On July 28th, 2000 I used the occasion of my birthday to quietly celebrate a successful recovery from cancer. 350 miles away on the same day Christine Pettrone’s struggle was just beginning: Leukemia.

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I met Christine last October during a volunteer day at a local Rochester, NY high school. She was there volunteering and I was there on assignment for a newspaper. The only thing visually noteworthy about the event was a long river of paper flowers spilling from a few cafeteria tables. My work quickly led to Christine and an introduction to her program called “Carnations for Patients.”

A “Carnations for Patients” delivery was a few weeks later in November and I asked Christine if I could tag along and take pictures. I soon found myself at Strong Memorial Hospital going from room to room watching Christine, her family, and a group of other volunteers hand out brightly colored fake paper flowers. The first few deliveries didn’t go over so well; the patients or caretakers didn’t want flowers, even if they weren’t a danger to their immune system. Some were just preoccupied… Understandably so.

Then there was an aged man who was suffering from a resurgence of Leukemia and a case of pneumonia. His daughter sat at his side, a well-worn string of black rosaries in hand. Christine offered her paper bouquet and within a few moments we were informed of the situation’s gravity: Family members had flown into town the previous day. Then Christine shared her story of survival and the daughter began to cry. A prayer for someone to come with encouragement was made just moments before, the daughter explained.

I realized then that the faux carnations weren’t really a substitute for something real. These bright little carnations offered hope in situations where hope had been evaporating for months. The flowers, along with Christine’s story of survival, became a powerful representation of what’s possible: life after cancer.