LOCAL TEEN WILL BE FEATURED TODAY ON `CBS THIS MORNING'

When CBS was looking for someone who epitomized National Volunteer Week, they found her in Cape Girardeau.

Traci Nicole Taylor, 14, will be featured in a segment which airs today on "CBS This Morning" recognizing National Volunteer Week and the people who it honors.

"I don't know how CBS found me," said Taylor. "They just called me on the phone and interviewed me, and then they sent a film crew out to follow me around for a couple of days."

Perhaps the reason Taylor was chosen was because every Thursday after school she travels to Southeast Missouri Hospital, where she is the engineer of the "Toy Train." It is a specially-designed cart full of books, crafts and games for children in the hospital's pediatric ward to cure the doldrums of hospital life.

She knows the boredom a child can experience in a hospital setting. Taylor was diagnosed with leukemia when she was 6 years old and underwent a year of chemotherapy before her disease went into remission for two years.

When she had a relapse in 1990, her family knew she would have to undergo a bone marrow transplant to survive.

Three years later, Taylor is a straight-A student at L.J. Schultz School. She is becoming more and more involved with the community with each passing year.

In October, young Taylor traveled to Washington, D.C., with her "Toy Train" to meet the president. She was one of 50 people selected nationwide to be honored in last year's Maxwell House "Search for Real Heroes" -- an award program designed to recognize outstanding Americans "whose selfless contributions, personal sacrifices and dedication have helped make a difference in other people's lives."

Now, Taylor, her family, her classmates and even some of the children she visits at the hospital will be on television.

"I thought it was really neat," she said. "I took the lady and the camera guy all over, showed them my Toy Train, went to my classes -- just everything."

One of the high points of the network's visit was an interview the reporter did with one of the children at Southeast Missouri Hospital.

"(The children) tell me all the time how much they like me coming around, but I had never heard anything like the children at the hospital told her," she said. "Usually the parents will say something, sometimes they donate money, but everyone told the reporter how much they appreciated us coming around."

The film crew also followed Taylor out to one of her favorite "donation collection" spots -- the Hardee's restaurant on Broadway. Taylor's grandfather and "all his coffee-drinking friends" donated money for the purchase of coloring books, craft supplies and toys for the train.

When Taylor's story airs at about 8:30 a.m. today, teachers and students at L.J. Schultz will be watching. And rightfully so, since the film crew followed Taylor to school one day for a segment of her story.

"Everyone is really excited about it," said Taylor. "But nobody is as excited as my grandma. She's calling everyone she knows."

Taylor is not going to allow her television appearance to go to waste.

"I hope we can get some more donations after the show airs," she said. "We want to get a Toy Train started at St. Francis Medical Center, but we need money for the supplies and the goodies on board."