ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, June 18, 1996 TAG: 9606180052
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press
A MAN whose donated bone marrow saved her life will hand an appreciative Virginian the symbol of good will, while a teen-ager will carry the torch her mother hoped to clutch before dying.
For Amanda Browning, the Olympic torch relay means sadness and memories of death; but for Judy Henry, the relay is a chance to celebrate a new lease on life.
Amanda, 13, is a last-minute torch-carrier replacement for her mother, Scarlett Henley Browning, who died Wednesday after a 10-year battle with cancer.
Henry, 47, will be handed the Olympic torch by the Michigan man whose bone marrow allowed the mother of five to defeat the lymphoma that was killing her.
The Olympic flame travels through Virginia on Friday and Saturday on its way to Atlanta.
Browning's friends and family said the 44-year-old Goochland County resident had hoped to live long enough to carry the torch.
``By last week, she knew she'd have to do it in a wheelchair, but she really wanted to do it,'' said Faye Hogue, Browning's sister. ``She tried her best.''
Browning was nominated to carry the torch because of her community involvement, particularly the more than 20 years she spent with Girl Scouts. She was among more than 200 people selected to carry the flame through the commonwealth.
Amanda expects her emotions to be mixed when she steps out to carry the torch.
``I probably will be sad and happy - sad just thinking of her, and happy that I could do it,'' she said. ``I really want to do this for her.''
For Henry, the emotions will be a lot clearer.
``I doubt I'll be able to hold it together,'' she said of her emotions when David Roussey, the man whose marrow is now in her bones, hands her the flame.
Henry, who was nominated to carry the torch by the National Marrow Donor Program, is not sure how to thank Roussey.
``How do you repay somebody for the gift of life?'' she said.
Apprised of Henry's predicament, Roussey, 35, said in a telephone interview that that's no problem at all.
``You know what I hope she says to me? I hope she says, `Hi, how're you doing?''' Roussey said. ``In my mind, do I think I saved a life? No, I do not. My bone marrow did.''
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Judy Henry, who has regained her strength afterby CNBsurviving lymphoma, practices with her daughter, Shannon. The mother
of five wonders how to thank the torch-passing man who donated the
bone marrow that she credits with saving her life.