Victoria Heisey couldn't stand to see anyone teased.

Especially those with special needs.

Her crusade began at an early age, her parents, Jim and Gloria Heisey, said.

When Victoria was in elementary school, a student with Down syndrome became the target of teasing.

"She clearly let everybody know they were to be nice to him," Mrs. Heisey said. "And in the end, they were very nice to him."

Victoria, a 2008 Lancaster Mennonite High School graduate and Lock Haven University biology student, died a year ago.

To honor their daughter's memory, the Heiseys, who live in Rapho Township, have set up an endowment fund to benefit the Learning Support Center of Lancaster Mennonite High School.

Victoria, who played volleyball for LMH, Norlanco Volleyball Club and Lock Haven University's intramural team, seemed healthy. Until one weekend last November, when she returned home from college with flulike symptoms, including a fever. The following Monday afternoon, her father drove her to the family doctor.

On the way, Victoria complained of a sudden, severe headache. "I think I'm having an aneurysm," she told her father.

He changed course for Lancaster General Hospital. There, Victoria was quickly diagnosed with leukemia and airlifted to Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, where she was more specifically diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.

AML is a fast-progressing cancer affecting cells that would otherwise develop into normal blood cells. It starts in the bone marrow and can spread to the lymph nodes, liver, spleen, brain and spinal cord, according to the American Cancer Society Web site.

The white blood cell count for a healthy person is between 8,000 and 10,000; Victoria's count was 263,000, Mrs. Heisey said. At Hershey, at least 15 professionals tried frantically to save her even as her brain swelled from bleeding.

On Nov. 12, 2008 — 54 hours after her diagnosis — Victoria died.

She was 18 years old.

Victoria was treated in 2006 for benign tumors in her breast and jaw. But these tumors were unrelated to each other, or to the leukemia, Mrs. Heisey said.

"They were just fluke things," she said.

Living loud
"She was sociable and very loud," said Victoria's younger sister, Valerie, 16. "She would constantly sing and when she was in the room, you knew she was there."

"She would come up to [my face] and say 'Oh, you're cute, be my friend,' and she would hug me and body slam me," Mrs. Heisey said. "She was always willing to be different. It was nice to know she knew who she was."

Victoria also loved to walk into a room full of strangers and meet new people, Mrs. Heisey said.

"She really just loved being around people and would be friends with anyone," said friend Mary Poole, 19, of East Lampeter Township.

"There was never a dull moment," another friend, Katelyn Kreider, 20, of Lancaster, said.

"There were always things that were just spontaneous," Katelyn said.

Like the time Katelyn wanted to see a concert at Hersheypark Stadium but didn't have tickets. Victoria said, "Let's go," and together with Mary, they drove to the stadium and listened outside.

"I could always count on Victoria to do something out of the ordinary to make your day," Katelyn said.

Mary said Victoria's spontaneity was sometimes mischievous.

Once, after playing in a basketball game, Mary returned to the parking lot to find her car on cement blocks with two wheels missing. Some male friends did the labor, but Victoria was the ringmaster, Mary said. (The culprits returned to undo their prank.)

But for all her loud living, Victoria knew how to listen, her sister, Valerie, said. "She was always listening to people's problems … she would always say 'tell me more, tell me more,' " Valerie said.

"I miss just being able to talk to her, and getting her random little notes," Mary said.

Victoria often made creatively decorated notes of encouragement for friends. She'd also make them care packages, which usually included homemade cookies.

Valerie, who was roped into the baking more than a few times — described her sister as a cookie con artist.

"She would start making the cookies and say, 'Could you come help me?' " Valerie recalled. "The next thing you know, she was gone and I was making the cookies."

Katelyn was a frequent care-package recipient. She has a blood disorder, and whenever it landed her in the hospital, Victoria brought her handmade notes and green tea.

One especially meaningful note was written on a square piece of paper decorated with bright colors and biblical inspiration: "Let God have all your worries and cares for He is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you. 1 Peter 5:7."

Katelyn posted the note on her refrigerator where it hung for about a year.

When Victoria was fighting for her own life, Katelyn's mother lay the note on the pillow next to Victoria's head.

Leaving a legacy
The Heiseys want their daughter's concern for others to live on, they said. To mark the anniversary of Victoria's death Nov. 12, they announced the establishment of the endowment fund.

The Victoria Heisey Memorial Learning Support Center Endowment will benefit students at LMH. The Heiseys hope the fund will grow large enough that students will no longer be charged for learning support services, which assist those who learn differently from others or who have educational challenges such as dyslexia or attention deficit disorder.

Currently, at least 105 students in the Lancaster Mennonite school system benefit from learning support — about 70 of those are in the high school —according to Superintendent Richard Thomas.

Another endowment also offsets learning support costs, but has not kept up with program growth, he said.

That's why the school system started charging parents for learning support about three years ago, Thomas said.

Students in kindergarten through eighth grades pay about $2,000 per year for learning support on top of their tuition. High school students pay about $500 because the expense is subsidized by the existing endowment, Thomas said.

The Heisey endowment is also earmarked to reduce the learning support fee for high school students. Any excess will offset the fee for elementary students.

The Heiseys said they hope the endowment will encourage learning support students, just as Victoria did.

"They really feel strongly, as we do, that students' families shouldn't be penalized for much-needed learning support," Heidi Stoltzfus, director of advancement for the Lancaster Mennonite school system, said.

Contributions to the fledgling fund —including those earned by a volleyball tournament held in Victoria's honor —total less than $1,000, Mr. Heisey said.

It will take at least $40,000 to significantly benefit the Learning Support Center with interest income, Stoltzfus explained.

"The money will help to do things Valerie would have done herself," Superintendent Thomas said.

HOW TO HELP
Endowment contributions may be sent to: Lancaster Mennonite School, Attention: Heidi Stoltzfus, 2176 Lincoln Highway East, Lancaster, PA 17602. Checks should be made out to "LMS" and clearly designated for the Victoria Heisey Memorial Learning Support Center Endowment.