ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 11, 1996 TAG: 9612110021
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: NEWS OBIT
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
THE YOUNG WOMAN wrote that from cystic fibrosis she ``learned a lot more about life than most people ever will.''
"My friends and I took a rainy night and turned it into sunshine by dancing, singing, laughing and talking on a covered front porch. Life is what you make of it," Whitney Leftwich wrote last spring for a class on Perspectives of Death, Dying and Grief.
Leftwich was always trying to persuade others to enjoy life even though hers was tough and never expected to last long. She had cystic fibrosis. The disease, which is linked to an abnormal gene, congests its victims' lungs with thick mucus making it difficult for them to breathe. CF often takes its victims by age 18.
Leftwich made it to age 20. But when she died Monday, she'd already made a tremendous use of life.
She was attending the College of Health Sciences in Roanoke, studying to become a pediatric nurse. She worked as a volunteer at Carilion Roanoke Community Hospital. She edited the "Common Friends" newsletter, which had a circulation of more than 100 teens and young adults with cystic fibrosis.
She won medals for the standing broad jump at the national Transplant Olympics in 1994 and 1996.
For the past two summers, she'd been a counselor at Camp Holiday Trails at Charlottesville, a special camp that the University of Virginia Medical Center runs for ill children.
Camp was Leftwich's greatest joy, said her parents, Richard Leftwich of Southwest Roanoke County and Candace Leftwich of Bent Mountain.
"She was her healthiest and her happiest at camp," Candace Leftwich said Tuesday.
The eight weeks she spent at Camp Holiday Trails this summer were "her last good time," said Richard Leftwich.
In September, Leftwich's body began to reject the transplanted lungs. She was in intensive care at the University of North Carolina Medical Center in Chapel Hill for more than 80 days. When she insisted that she be brought "home" to Community Hospital, she needed a ventilator to breathe.
Dr. Donald Kees, who was with Leftwich when she died, said in a voice breaking from emotion that she was an inspiration.
"She had a lot of insight into her illness and was prepared for the end," he said.
Kees said Leftwich gave him new understanding. He said he had questioned the value of the lung transplant because it required her to take so many medications.
"But she never regretted it, and she helped me see from her eyes," he said.
Leftwich left behind letters, a book in progress and other writings that revealed her spirit for life.
When she was hospitalized with respiratory problems in 1995, she penned the instructions for her funeral and "some words about my life and feelings."
"The transplant was worth it," she wrote. "I still marvel at the loss of my CF cough. To breathe freely was a miracle."
In that same 1995 writing, Leftwich said that she was not sorry that she was born with CF. "I learned a lot more about life than most people ever will," she wrote.
The funeral Thursday will include as many of his daughter's plans as possible, said Richard Leftwich.
She wanted the 23rd Psalm on the pamphlets announcing the service and favorite Bible verses inside, and lots of music, including "Amazing Grace."
"I don't want tons of expensive flowers, just some pretty, inexpensive ones," she instructed.
The Leftwich family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Camp Holiday Trails, Charlottesville 22901. Also, the students and faculty at the College of Health Sciences have started a scholarship fund in Leftwich's honor.
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Leftwich. color.by CNB