To that end, she will be holding a series of fundraising events in the area to help fund research.

Daniel-Wiseman has firsthand experience with the disease. She was 13 when she was diagnosed with leukemia at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

The diagnosis came after local doctors could not identity what was wrong with her.

“It was five months leading up to the diagnosis,” she said. “I was misdiagnosed.”

The delay in diagnosis and treatment resulted in compression injuries to seven of her vertebrae and a deteriorating shoulder joint.

The delay was also potentially fatal.

“In a few more days I wouldn’t have lived,” she said.

As it was, her prognosis wasn’t that good.

“I was given a 50 percent chance of survival,” she said. “I endured experimental chemotherapy and radiation.”

Her treatment started the day she was diagnosed, and then continued.

And continued.

“I did not know that Rochester would become my second home for next 2 1/2 years,” she said.

She credits her family and friends with getting through the experience.

“I had some really good friends that stopped their lives to be with me,” she said. “I also had very sympathetic parents that tried to give me as much of a teenage life as they could give me, even though we spent a lot time in the hospital.”

The good news is that Daniel-Wiseman has been cancer free since.

During the campaign she is now undertaking, candidates raise money in honor of the Boy and Girl of the Year. they are children who are currently in treatment or remission. The 10-week campaign includes letter-writing, events and collecting items for silent and live auctions during the group’s gala event on May 20.

Daniel-Wiseman has several events coming up locally.

“We’re holding a garage sale at Daniel Tire on April 23,” she said. “There’s also an event at Soldier Creek Winery on April 29 and a Be With You event at Fort Frenzy on May 4.”

Those are just the first three.

“We’re also having a volleyball tournament at Amigo’s on May 13 and Fareway is doing a Roundup the week of April 24,” she said.

In addition, Red Blood Drops are also on sale at Fort Frenzy and Daniel-Wiseman is selling T-shirts in gray and red.

She also has a Facebook page called WendyDW4LLS and donations can be made directly at www.mwoywendydw.org.

Donations are tax-deductible and 76 cents of every dollar goes directly to research, patient services and assistance, as well as professional education.

While the campaign is statewide, she’s the only candidate outside of the Des Moines area.

She hopes to raise more than $50,000.

If she does, she can have a research grant named for her.

“How neat would that be, to be able to say I funded a research grant?”