BROTHERLY EFFORT; CONEJO VALLEY KIDS DONATING MONEY FOR TEEN WITH LEUKEMIA.

Byline: Paul O'Donoghue Staff Writer

Touched by the story of a teen-ager's battle with leukemia, students at Conejo Valley's after-school centers are donating their extra pennies and nickels to the Leukemia Society of America to fight the nation's No. 1 killer of children.

They are being spurred on by Matthew Myers, 22, a part-time aide at one of the centers, whose 17-year-old sister, Morgan, is undergoing chemotherapy in her aggressive fight against the disease.

``So far it's been wonderful. All the sites have brought in tons and tons of money,'' said Myers, who attends Moorpark College and plans to become an elementary school teacher.

And to give the children more insight into the disease, Myers brought in his sister, an Oak Park High School student who was diagnosed with leukemia in May. Until then, she was like any other teen-age girl, going shopping, to the movies and hanging out with her friends.

``She told them about the disease and how she found out she had it and the way the disease has changed her life and what she can't do anymore. The kids were mesmerized. They just sat there without moving, and some kids had their mouths open,'' Myers said.

``We've never seen the kids that quiet. And I even had a call from a parent the next day who thanked Morgan Myers for that and said his kid said he wants to fight leukemia now and do everything he can to fight it. And he went around and starting collecting money and even emptied his piggy-bank.

``It really touched my heart,'' Myers said. ``It was wonderful.''

Myers got the idea for the Pennies for Patients campaign from the Leukemia Society of America, which supplied the collection buckets, informational fliers and cassettes. The agency also provided prizes, ranging from pizza lunches to computers for schools that raise money.

In addition, he sent personal letters explaining the situation to the parents of the 1,000 children at the Conejo Valley Unified School District's after-school centers.

Debbie Field, Myers' supervisor at Acacia Elementary School, where he helps the children with everything from games to homework, said she admired his efforts.

``It's taken him a tremendous amount of effort to put together a fund-raiser of this size, and it took a tremendous amount of time to do this,'' she said.

``We all get teary-eyed when he talks about it and when we hear about the things that he's doing.''

And Martha Mendoza, the Leukemia Society's campaign coordinator for the school site program in Southern California, said she has never seen someone take the initiative as Myers has in the fight against the disease that killed 22,100 children in America in 1998. The money will be counted Monday, and Myers then intends to extend the program into other school districts.

``We're tremendously gratified with these donations. This is helping us pay for our patient services, and he's going to help us further our research funding,'' Mendoza said.

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PHOTO (color in Conejo edition only) Moorpark College student Matthe w Myers is collecting pennies from schoolchildren at 18 campuses across the area for his 17-year-old sister, Morgan, who has leukemia.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer