
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 19, 1994                   TAG: 9404190145
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: KEN DAVIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

TECH WILL HONOR ORGAN DONORS

Virginia's Organ Procurement Agency is sponsoring a memorial service Thursday evening on the Virginia Tech campus to honor friends and family members of those whose organs were donated after their deaths.

The local memorial service comes in the wake of a national service held in Washington, D.C., as a part of National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Week. The service, held over the weekend, was attended by nearly 100 donor family members representing 24 states.

"The primary reason for the service, of course, was to honor families and friends of donors," said Karen Sokohl, a spokesperson with Virginia's procurement agency. "By doing that, we also hope to call attention to the problem that there is a serious shortage of organs.

The agency reports that more than 34,500 Americans are on the waiting list for organ and tissue transplants, while an average of eight die daily because organs are not available.

"The event was heart-wrenching and beautiful," said Bunny Hancock, who represented Virginia donor families at the national service. "I imagine Thursday's service will be the same."

Hancock's son Matt, a former Virginia Tech student, was at a friend's home on a Monday morning in January 1993 when he collapsed from a ruptured cerebral aneurysm. A 22-year-old features editor for the Tech student newspaper, Matt went into a coma. His family later disconnected him from life support so that his healthy organs could be donated to medicine.

"Matt gave his heart to a man in Blacksburg," Hancock said, adding that nine other people benefitted from his donated organs. "I feel so strongly that it's important to educate people about this. It brings me joy to know that man, whom I believe was a grandfather, spent another Christmas with his family."

Hancock, who was an advocate for organ donation before Matt's death, has used her personal experience to vigorously campaign for more education about the importance of organ donation.

"As soon as I could speak without sobbing I began to talk about this," she said. "It is possible for a donor to help in the healing of 200 people. That's how important it is."

The memorial service will begin at 7 p.m. and will be held at the War Memorial Chapel.

by CNB