The love that presides at a wedding sometimes has a rippling effect.

Jason Gerasinovich, the best man at his best friend’s wedding, and Lisa Borst, the bride’s matron of honor, looked through wedding pictures this week.

They stopped to admire a picture of Borst’s daughter, two-and-a-half-year-old Jessica Rose. A flower girl, she was dressed exactly like the bride — from the frothy veil at the top of her head to the full-length white gown that reached to the tip of her toes.

She wore an exuberant smile as she proudly clutched a bouquet of purple flowers.
Her mother describes her as "very smiley, very friendly, very polite." Borst said, "She always says ‘thank you’ and ‘please.’"

Gerasinovich did not know Borst or her daughter before the pre-wedding festivities began.
"Lisa and I met over the telephone," he recalled. During that first conversation, he learned that Jessica Rose had been diagnosed with leukemia the year before.
"All I could think of was my six-year old son," he said. "I felt, if it were my kid, I would hope people would be giving. Her kid is a symbol of all kids...I told her, if there was anything I could do, let me know."
But when he hung up the phone, Gerasinovich said, he felt guilty. "I thought I should do something."

Gerasinovich owns a Guilderland business, Ultra-Clean Auto Detailing, Inc.; he does specialty work, cleaning people’s cars.
"I contacted my customers," Gerasinovich said. "They were unbelievably generous."

Seven of them came up with a combined $2,000 to give to Borst. Half of that money came from Jack and Susan Collett of Collett Mechanical Incorporated, he said; the rest was from Jeff Thomas of WeatherGuard Roofing, David’s Unique Jewelers, Classic Tux, Nicole’s Italian Restaurant, I Love NY Pizza, and Sun Capsule.

Gerasinovich surprised Borst with the contributions at a pre-wedding party.
"All I could do was cry and silently thank God," Borst wrote in a thank-you letter to the Colletts, "for caring individuals like you who so unconditionally help others, even people they may not know, because they want to make a positive impact and difference....We continue to learn to be humble in accepting help from others and we will always look for the opportunities to give back to those that have so beautifully touched our lives and made this road a little easier to travel."

A year of coping with leukemia

Jessica Rose was diagnosed with leukemia on June 28, 2004. She hadn’t been sick — a slight limp was the cause for blood work — so her family was shocked and devastated by the news.
Her father, Ray Borst, works for Commerce Health Technology in finance; her mother works for the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board; and her five-year-old brother, Raymond Borst V, "is a typical older brother," Borst said.
"They told us it’s acute lymphatic leukemia. They don’t know what causes it," said Borst. "They started chemotherapy the next day...We still have a year-and-a-half of chemotherapy...
"But," she said, "the good news is, she’s in remission."

Jessica Rose has received treatment at Albany Medical Center, which her mother praises highly.
"It’s very humbling when you go to the clinic," she said. "It makes you realize you’re not the only one...We have a lot of positives. The biggest is that she’s in remission."
What will the family do with the donations from Gerasinovich’s customers" "We’ve put it into Jessica’s savings account," Borst said.
The money may be used to celebrate the end of her treatment, a goal the whole family focuses on. Jessica’s five-year-old brother talks about Disney World, Borst said. "We may use it for a trip when we get to the end of treatment."

The family has suffered together through the ordeal, and the struggle and stress of remaining treatment still looms ahead.
"The day she lost her hair," said Borst. "I cried my eyes out."

But Jessica just wears a hat or, at the wedding, a veil, and her shining smile is what you notice.