By Karen Vance
Enquirer contributor

MASON - Despite a three-year battle with leukemia and side effects from a bone marrow transplant, Paul Seiter was able to go to his senior prom, his high school graduation and his sister's wedding.

But when Seiter died on April 26, 2002, at age 19, he left one thing unfinished - his Eagle Scout project.

Now, his family is looking to complete it - a toy collection and blood drive - for him.

"It's his project. We're just trying to do it for him. It's a nice thing to remember him by," said Steve Seiter, Paul's father.

Steve and his wife, Suzanne, both 48, have organized the drive and collection for Thursday between 2 and 8:30 p.m. at the church where Paul was a member of the youth group, Mason United Methodist, 773 S. Mason-Montgomery Road. To participate, call 398-1745

Paul, a Life Scout in Troop 43, came up with the idea while spending more than 500 days at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center after being diagnosed with leukemia in May 1999. Then 16, he noticed there wasn't much to do for teens there and decided he would collect video games, toys aimed at teens and movies to donate to the hospital for teens like himself.

Throughout the course of his illness, Seiter also received more than 250 units of blood.

"He had such a passion for the project. He knew what those platelets meant to him, they kept him alive. And he knew what it meant to be stuck in that hospital room," Steve Seiter said. "... But he never complained. He never said, 'Why me?' He just did what he could."

Now his family is doing what it can. His sister, Amy Brausch, 24, and her husband, Brian, 31, of DeKalb, Ill., have been working with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through its "Team in Training" program and have run two marathons to raise money for the organization.

"Ever since he got sick, I thought about trying to find a way to help so that maybe other families wouldn't have to go through what mine did," Amy Brausch said.

She remembers her brother as a creative entertainer who had hopes of becoming involved in the ministry, teaching or nursing.

"He just wanted to work with people in some kind of helping profession," Brausch said.

Now the family hopes to continue that legacy of helping by making the blood drive and toy collection an annual event, Steve Seiter said.

"We knew our son was the kind of kid who would have kept doing the drive even after the project," he said.

How to help

To participate in the First Paul Seiter Memorial Hoxworth Blood Drive and Toy Collection, call 398-1745 for an appointment.

Or bring new and used VHS movies (none rated higher than PG-13), video game systems and games and portable CD players and CDs to the Mason United Methodist Church between 2 and 8:30 p.m. on Thursday.

You can also donate blood at Hoxworth donor centers to the Paul Seiter Memorial project account.