WHEATON – The day after her 24th birthday, Wheaton resident Jenna Lindman was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma.

"It was devastating news, but it was almost a relief at the same time because it was like, 'Oh, we can finally move forward and figure out these issues that I've been struggling with,'" Lindman said.

Lindman, who is now 28, underwent chemotherapy and has been cancer free for the past few years. To provide hope to other people also batting cancer, she decided to create IgniteHope, a nonprofit organization that donates candles with inspiring and uplifting messages hidden in the wax to those affected by cancer. For every candle the group sells, it donates one to someone touched by cancer.

"It's like no one's cancer battle is ever easy," Lindman said. "There's always complications. There's always side effects. I really recognize that. That's kind of why we do what we do. It's just to help people stay empowered, to make it through whatever their battle is."

For Lindman, candles are "meditative and soothing."

"That's why I kind of came up with this idea," she said. "It kind of appeals to people who feel that same way."

There will be a ribbon cutting for IgniteHope from 5 to 6 p.m. July 27 at the Wheaton Chamber of Commerce office, 108 E. Wesley St. in downtown Wheaton. In February, IgniteHope became a full-fledged nonprofit group.

The group has made almost 1,000 candles in the past year. Each candle has three messages in it.

"That's about 3,000 empowering messages that we've sent out to people with 1,000 candles," Lindman said. "That's pretty cool to think about."

Those messages have been penned by a variety of people and organizations, including church groups, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, family members and friends. People have reached out to Lindman on social media offering their help.

"A woman had reached out to me who is a spiritual healer in France," she said. "She told me that she really loved the idea. The messages that she sent us were really beautiful."

IgniteHope works with the Chicago-based cancer support community Imerman Angels.

"They do one-on-one cancer mentoring," Lindman said. "They have been helping us get on our feet as a nonprofit. We donate candles to them because they're also directly in hospitals."

Lindman makes the candles by hand. She can make 30 candles in an evening if she has enough messages, she said.

And Lindman hopes the messages will provide inspiration to those battling cancer.

"When I was going through cancer treatment, I just felt like some of the most touching cards or sentiments I got were from people that I barely knew," she said. "I thought it was really special that someone would go out of their way to make sure I am doing OK. I really wanted to try to bring that to other people."

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Know more

Information about IgniteHope is available at its website, ignitehopecandles.org.