BANGOR – Karl McGaw, 65, of Bangor has been fighting cancer for two years. Roberta “Bobbie” Fowler, 58, of Old Town is in remission after a frightening bout with colorectal cancer.

Together, the survivors flipped a switch and lit a Christmas tree on the grounds of Eastern Maine Medical Center at dusk Saturday.

Called the “Lights of Hope” tree, the green conifer sits adjacent to the Webber building on the hospital grounds. It radiates with Christmas light, much the way staff at CancerCare of Maine had planned, to honor people past and present who are fighting or who have fought grave illness.

The tree is raising money to benefit support groups for CancerCare patients. So far, $5,800 has been realized. Until Dec. 31, donors can buy white lights to be added to the tree for $10 each, red lights for $25 each, green lights for $50 each, blue lights for $100 each and orange lights for $250 each. Contact Eastern Maine Charities, P.O. Box 404, Bangor 04402-0404, telephone number 973-5055 for information.

About 30 people attended the tree-lighting ceremony, including Bangor Mayor Michael Crowley. Earlier in the day, Crowley had attended the funeral of benefactor G. Peirce Webber, and he told the group that the philanthropist’s last check, written on Dec. 4, the day he died, was to support the “Lights of Hope” tree.

Greg Fecteau, CancerCare of Maine director, said the tree of hope would be an annual tradition. It seemed fitting to start a tree of hope this year as the area struggles to cope with the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to Fecteau. The value of friends and family is key to everyone this year, making a symbolic tree to honor people with special struggles appropriate and timely.

McGaw, a professor at Husson College for 35 years, said he was pleased to play a role in the tree-lighting ceremony.

In 1999, he was told he had a cancerous tumor on his spine. After radiation treatments he began to feel better but then had to have a cancerous tumor removed from his eye. In the summer of 2000 he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, bone marrow cancer.

Since the diagnosis, McGaw has undergone a stem cell transplant and an aggressive form of chemotherapy treatment. It will take two years for his immune system to get back to normal, but McGaw maintains a sense of humor and a positive outlook on life.

Fowler, a health educator at Orono High School, chose to share her diagnosis and treatment plan with her students when she found out she had an aggressive form of colorectal cancer in the fall of 1999.

An energetic, optimistic woman, Fowler said she had no symptoms of cancer. A routine physical that included a test packet for colorectal cancer detected blood in her stool. A short while later a colonoscopy revealed a fast-growing tumor. “If I had waited another month, the story would have been quite different,” said Fowler.

She underwent chemotherapy and radiation to reduce the tumor then was operated on in the spring of 2000. She withstood pre- and post-surgical treatment well and was able to teach most days.

Because she felt fine but had cancer anyway, Fowler advocates that people take the colorectal test routinely offered at physicals, especially after age 50.

Both McGaw and Fowler praised their doctors, nurses and other caregivers at CancerCare of Maine. The center last year diagnosed 1,400 people with new cancers and treats up to 250 people a day in various programs, according to Fecteau.