How would you react to the news that a kid had cancer? What could you do to help? Last year, three seventh-grade girls from Westlane Middle School heard about a boy who had been fighting cancer and decided to take action.

Hanna Benn, 13, Jennifer Kazmierzak , 14, and Maggie Ferguson-Wagstaffe , 14, now eighth-graders, sponsored a fund-raiser at their school to raise money for the Michael Cuccione Foundation for Cancer Research.

The girls had watched an MTV show called 2gether about a fictional band and found out one teen-age band member had been battling cancer for years. Even though they weren't a real band, their music attained popularity and so did the performers, including Michael Cuccione, who played Jason "QT" McKnight.

Michael, from Vancouver, British Columbia, was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease in July 1994, at age 9, and went through six months of chemotherapy. Six months after the chemotherapy, the cancer returned and affected his lungs. After strong doses of chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant and 12 radiation treatments around his heart and lungs, Michael was cancer-free.

Hanna found the Web site of the Michael Cuccione Foundation for Cancer Research, which raises money to combat the disease. She shared this information with her friends, and they decided to conduct a fund-raiser for the foundation.

"We wanted to do it because cancer is a big issue, and they're trying to find cures, and we know that there is not a lot of money to do that," Maggie said.

"We just thought it would be pretty cool if we could do this with our school," Jenny remarked.

Westlane guidance counselor Becky Hall was enthusiastic, too.

"My general reaction to the fund-raiser was a positive one. I am inspired as an educator when I see young adults involved in a worthy cause," she said.

Hall also had a personal reason for supporting the fund-raiser.

"I think the cause is an excellent one. My mother died of cancer four years ago, and it is very close to my heart. My best friend got cancer a year ago. It is a disease that should be closer to having a cure. Without research money and grants, a cure cannot be found," she said.

But Hanna, Jenny and Maggie had to overcome several obstacles in order to conduct their fund-raiser. The school had several requirements before they got started.

"First we had to join Student Council, because (the administration) wouldn't let us do anything that had to do with the whole student body unless we were in Student Council," Jenny said.

"We had to get this approved by the principal, the science teacher in sixth grade, and the counselors," Maggie added. "We had to explain it 50 million times to people. But we finally got it through."

In all, it took the girls a month to put the whole thing together, and three days to actually get organized. They decided to set up a table outside the cafeteria and asked students and staff for donations.

"We had cans for the money to go in, and we would sit and people would come out after lunch and we would have them put their change from lunch in the cans. And sometimes they would give more if they felt that they really wanted to," said Maggie.

"We had a couple of our friends help us at lunch," added Hanna. In two weeks, they collected about $300, mostly from classmates. "It was a little easier if we got the money from kids," Maggie said. "You could talk to them more and not persuade them, but they would want to help you more because they're your friends."

The kids also were more familiar with the actor. "I think the reason that more of the kids wanted to do it rather than the adults because the kids watch MTV more than the adults, and a lot of them knew who Michael Cuccione was," Jenny remarked.

"It wasn't some person that no one had heard of. They knew this was a real person who really had cancer and had a real foundation," said Maggie. "If they didn't know who he was, we tried to explain and tried to see if they had seen 2gether . And if they hadn't, we would say, 'Well, has cancer touched your family or anybody?' and most of the time it had touched someone in some way, a second cousin or something."

The girls also contributed to the cause. "I gave $75," said Hanna.

"Jenny gave $20, and I gave $40. And that definitely boosted it up," added Maggie.

When the fund-raiser was over, Jenny called the foundation's office in British Columbia to find out how to send the money. For their efforts, the girls received gifts from the foundation. "We got prizes, books, and they sent books and CDs to our library with (Michael's) signature," said Hanna. The gifts weren't all they received. They got satisfaction from doing a good deed.

"My dad just had cancer, and I'm really happy I did this because now I feel even more that it's helped to pay for microscopes or being able to perform more tests," Maggie said. "If you think about it in the scheme of things, it was a lot of money to us, and we think it helped."

"It's not every day you get to help somebody," Hanna remarked.

"It was worth it because it made us feel like we did something good," added Jenny.

Even though they were satisfied with their efforts, they would make changes if they were to hold another fund-raiser.

Jenny wished the fund-raiser could have lasted longer.

"In two more weeks we would have gotten at least $500, and that would have been great," she said.

Hanna wished they would have explained their cause better.

"I don't know if they really thought it would help. When we first started, we were like, 'Just put your pennies in, it doesn't matter,' and they thought that was pretty silly," Maggie added.

Michael Cuccione died Jan. 13 at age 16 from respiratory problems resulting from lung damage caused by his cancer treatments.

For more information on the Michael Cuccione Foundation for Cancer Research, view the Web site at www.makingadifference.org .

ASSISTANT EDITOR: Lauren Harris, 14.

REPORTERS: Kristin Drouin, 11; Evan Phillips, 14; Tom Risk, 13.