Cancer was becoming routine for Michael Doyon. Visits to the hospital for chemotherapy were commonplace until one Bedford nurse and her students decided to step in.

Brenda Cooper of Bedford and seven nursing students from UNH recently raised $350 to buy a laptop for Doyon to use after receiving a stem-cell transplant for Hodgkin’s lymphoma at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Because he would be in strict isolation while his body adapts to the new stem cells, a laptop would help keep him busy and in touch with loved ones.

“They’re pretty much alone in there,” said Cooper, a 10-year oncology nurse at Elliot Hospital who also teaches part time at UNH. “They can get very lonely.”

Cooper and the students first met Doyon, 30, a few months ago when he was a patient at Elliot Hospital where the students were doing their internships. Cooper thought a laptop would be beneficial to Doyon after her own nephew died from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2006.

“Jamie had really used his laptop as a lifeline,” said Cooper.

The students spent one week in October visiting classrooms and local businesses to raise money. They got all the approvals necessary to purchase a gift for a patient and presented the laptop to Doyon and his girlfriend on Oct. 20, only a few days before he had to leave for Boston to receive treatment.

“I got a call one night from Lindsay Bergmann,” said Cooper. “She voiced the desire to do some kind of fundraiser to get him a laptop.”

The group had a short amount of time to raise the money and buy the laptop, but it was worth the effort.

“It was a little bit rushed. I think it’s great that we were able to do it,” said Bergman, president of the student nursing organization at UNH.

Every time Doyon went for treatment, Cooper and the students kept him company. Elizabeth Martin saw Doyon the most.

“He was a really great patient,” said Martin. “I thought he was really high-spirited. He was really grateful for what we did.”

After raising the $350, the group went to Best Buy in Manchester where they bought a discounted laptop, still brand new, to give to Doyon. When they gave it to him in the hospital the next day, they also gave him a $100 gift certificate to Wal-Mart and a $50 gift certificate to Shop & Save.

“He was so touched that people went out of their way to do this for him,” said Cooper. “It just shows how a small group of people can make a change.”

“He’s going to be in isolation for so long,” said Martin. “It gave him a way to contact others. Financially, he couldn’t do it himself.”

Doyon entered Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston on Oct. 22 and was very touched by the effort of the students. “It was very nice of them, considering they don’t even know me,” he said. “It felt awesome.” Doyon has been fighting Hodgkin’s lymphoma for the past year.

Cooper is particularly proud of her students, considering they worked full time, but were still able to make the time to help their patient.

“These girls have a lot on their plate. It really touched me,” Cooper said. “The girls have really learned that making a difference in someone else’s life can change your life.”

Other nurses involved were Rebecca Knowles, Brianna Hanson, Hannah O’Rourke, Robyn Consigli, Elizabeth Hamilton and Ashley Lewis. To reach out to Doyon, email him at mikeddoyon@yahoo.com.