By Suzanne Laurent
DERRY — A heartbroken Andrew Buckley took his two daughters to say goodbye to their mother, Leigh, in a way that he hoped they would understand.
Leigh Buckley lost her courageous battle with leukemia on Sunday, June 21, at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
"We asked them what they would like to say to their mom," Andrew Buckley said.
He and the couple's good friend, Debbie Risteen, helped the girls write their messages and they tied them to red and blue balloons that the girls released in a field behind their church, Calvary Bible Church in East Derry, during a break in the relentlessly rainy Tuesday afternoon. Dressed in summer sundresses, Julia, 5, and Clara, 2, sat in the grass and watched until the balloons floated out of sight.
Leigh Buckley, 34, was well-known and loved in the community where the family has lived for the past nine years. She was a strong presence in her religious community, as well, and put her faith in God over the two-and-a-half years she fought her illness.
She often said, "Either way — if I live or die — I know that I'll be healed."
The Buckleys moved to Derry from San Jose, Calif., in December 2000 when Andrew took a job with Cisco Systems, then based in Salem. Leigh Buckley found a position as a French teacher at Timberlane Regional High School.
Leigh was diagnosed with P-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia on Jan. 9, 2007 and, in March of that year, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute teamed up with Calvary Bible Church to hold a bone marrow drive in the hopes of finding a potential donor for Buckley. It was held on her 32nd birthday.
Her story reached a national audience when it was featured on the popular YouTube Internet site in a three-minute video showing Leigh interacting with her husband and daughters.
The drive drew 2,500 people, and 1,016 of those were able to join the National Bone Marrow Registry. While no national donor matched Leigh, an international registry turned up a bone marrow donor for her.
She received the bone marrow transplant on May 12, 2007, a day she called her "new birthday."
Andrew made another YouTube video of his wife's journey through chemotherapy, radiation, transplant and recovery.
Leigh wrote the lyrics to the song played in the video and arranged by Brad Illian, a pastor at her church.
"Lord Jesus, I am safe in your hands," repeats over and over with images of Leigh interacting with her family.
Last year, Leigh and her daughters baked chocolate chip cookies on May 12 with M&M's that read, "Leigh's Birthday" and "New Life." Her church sponsored a second bone marrow drive on May 17, 2008 in her honor. The drive drew a couple of hundred people.
"It was hard to find many new people to be tested in the same community just a year later," Andrew Buckley said. He said that they learned six months ago that a member of their church was a match for a young child.
In a bittersweet way, Leigh Buckley's legacy lives on.
"She was so joyful," said her friend Brenda Gawrys of Chester.
"When I first met her at church, I was immediately drawn to her. She lit up the room."
Gawrys recalled chatting with Buckley on Facebook and saying that she was having a bad day.
"'You're alive,' Leigh said. 'That's what matters,'" Gawrys said.
"Then she came to my house with coffee from Dunkin Donuts for me and my husband and doughnuts for my kids. But she saved a couple on the side for her own girls. She was just like that."
A friend, Debbie Hebert, who moved to Cocoa, Fla., a year ago, said she was always amazed at Buckley's courage and Andrew's support.
"My dad died of leukemia when I was little and I saw what my mother went through," Hebert said.
"Andrew was just there for her. My life was enriched by both of them."
Buckley said that his wife was doing well after her transplant until February when she caught a cold which she never fully recovered from.
In April, Leigh was diagnosed with Graft vs. Host Disease, a complication of bone marrow transplants which can attack any organ in the body — in her case, it was her lungs.
Chemotherapy treatments failed and Buckley was admitted to the hospital a few weeks ago. The young family made plans to move to Spokane, Wash., where Leigh's parents live, so they could help care for her. Andrew will still move there with his daughters.
Leigh had a brief period when her health improved and she spent a few days at Northeast Rehabilitation Hospital in Salem, but she soon had to be readmitted to Brigham and Women's and eventually taken off life support.
"That was the most difficult 30 minutes of my life," Andrew said.
With the help of hospital staff, Andrew was able to lay beside his wife and hold her at the end.
"It was very precious — something that will stay with me always."
A memorial service will be held at 12 p.m. on Thursday, June 25 in the Calvary Bible Church Auditorium, 145 Hampstead Road, Derry. An additional memorial service will also be held in Spokane, Wash., at Northview Bible Church, and burial will be in the Riverside Cemetery in Spokane. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Donor Services, P.O. Box 4072, Pittsfield, MA 01202 or see LLS.org. To send a condolence or for more information, please visit www.peabodyfuneralhome.com.
Safe In Your Hands
By Leigh Buckley
My mind is asking why
But my heart knows what the answer will be.
I asked, You heard,
I know You've been preparing me.
And now the season has come
To show You I am real.
Whatever comes my way,
No matter how I feel...
(Refrain)
Lord, Jesus I am in your hands,
And I am safe there,
I am safe there.
Lord, Jesus I am in your hands,
And I am safe there,
I am safe there,
I'm safe in Your hands.
My body cries out, Lord,
Take away my pain, I'm so weak.
I ask, you hear,
You know and You care for me.
You are my Great Physician,
I know that You can heal.
But even now in my weak condition
Your presence is so real.
(Refrain)
Touch lives, heal hearts,
Use me for your glory, Lord I pray!
I lay my body before your throne,
And in my brokenness I can say...
(Refrain)
©2007 Leigh Buckley / Brad Illian
