Staff Writer

jsibley@theeasleyprogress.com

EASLEY - People are told to live rich lives and to fully enjoy their days because we aren't guaranteed tomorrow. For Angel Crowe, she didn't think her husband of 12 years would have only weeks to continue living richly.

Steve Crowe, long time stocker at the Bi-Lo in Pickens, went during the Kimberly Hampton Memorial blood drive to give blood.

When the nurses instructed him to seek medical attention because his hemoglobin levels were dangerously low, he couldn't comprehend the reason.

Signs of fatigue had been setting in during the past months and even a few years ago during vacations, but Steve chalked it up to being 60 and working hard.

A co-worker of Angel's at the Easley Living Center, Beth Posey - knowing about Steve's chronic tiredness - convinced Angel that Steve desperately needed to seek help.

Finally, they made it to Cannon Memorial where he was admitted.

Angel waited at Cannon for hours, until a doctor finally came out and told her, without complete certainty, that Steve more than likely had Leukemia.

"I just said 'no' over and over again," Crowe said. "I just refused to believe that."

After spending two days at Cannon, they transported him to Greenville Memorial Hospital where he has remained for two months.

He's completed chemo therapy, gone through numerous blood transfusions and endured various tests to make sure the diagnosis was final.

"They gave him four to five weeks to live depending on how well he does," Crowe said. "Hopefully he can come home, because that's what he really wants."

To help the Crowe's with medical expenses and everything else while their times are so trying, the community is encouraged to participate in a benefit yard sale.

The benefit will be from 11-2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 18.

Last week, Pickens Bi-Lo donated hot dogs with buns and the Easley Living Center staff came together and brought lots of sides to hold a fundraising dinner in honor of Angel's strength in light of Steve's difficult illness.

"I don't know what I would do without my friends here at Easley Living Center," Crowe said. "They don't just talk about helping, they act and that means the world to me."

Steve's immune system is too weak to receive flowers, so the family requests

Angel does ask, however, that flowers not be sent to Steve's hospital room because his immune system is so weak.

Other donations are welcome and can be made out the Easley Living Center, Attention: Angel and Steve Crowe, 200 Anne Drive, Easley, SC 29640.

For more information, call Tenna Chiarello at the Easley Living Center at 859-9754.

To donate items to the yard sale, call by Oct. 17.