This article appeared in the anthology, Hometown Heroes: Real Stories of Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things All Across America published by HarperCollins in 2007. It originally appeared in the November 27, 2005 issue of American Profile.

Distributing Heavenly Hats

by Kathleen Conroy

Anthony Leanna, of Suamico, Wis., was only eight years old when he first visited his ailing grandmother in the hospital. “I really loved my grandma, and I was afraid she’d die,” says Anthony, whose grandmother, Darlene Chartier, had undergone surgery for breast cancer in 1999. “I was also afraid she’d lose her hair like the other cancer patients I saw in the hospital.” more