THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 22, 1995 TAG: 9502210107
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Linda McNatt
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
In the next few days, if you haven't already been approached by a friend or neighbor, you may be asked to contribute to the Isle of Wight unit of the American Heart Association.
February is, after all, heart month. And I guess one really has to be reminded exactly what the Heart Association does before realizing just how important it is.
First off, according to Gussie and Bob Sommers, local fund-raising co-chairmen this year, only 22 percent of funds raised go toward overhead and other administrative costs. Most of the work is done by volunteers - like the Sommerses, like your neighbors.
Most of the money collected during the fund-raising drive goes toward researching new surgical techniques, new drugs, prevention methods. That's how bypass surgery came about, how heart transplants got started. Thanks to the Heart Association.
The overall residential collection goal for the county this year is $4,000. Countywide, with corporate support, the volunteers hope to collect $13,000.
Today, the chances of saving lives and reducing disability from heart disease and stroke - this country's leading cause of death - are better than ever because of what we have learned from research.
Heart disease touches almost every family in this country, they tell me. It's touched my own family. My dad died 15 years ago from heart disease, at a time when bypass surgery was relatively uncommon. Today, it's probably one of the most common life-saving surgical procedures.
Just recently, my 74-year-old mother went through it. Hopefully, she'll be around a lot longer because of the skill of her surgeons and the techniques available today.
In a way, heart disease brought the local co-chairmen together. And that's another neat twist to this story.
Bob and Gussie, now both in their 70s, graduated from Newport News High School in June 1938, then went their separate ways. They became reacquainted at their 50th reunion in 1988. Gussie's husband had died in 1985; Bob's wife was ill with cancer.
She remembered him as the ``skinny boy in the band.'' He remembered her, she said, because she happened to go with a boy who had a car. It was uncommon back then for a high school student to own a car.
``It was a '29 Ford, a Model A,'' she said. ``My husband had worked at a grocery store and saved $75 to buy it. Bob remembered the Model A.''
Even then, Bob was a car buff, she said. That's why he remembered.
Bob lost his wife in 1992, not long after he had open-heart surgery and joined an organization that supports those who have been through it. At the time, Gussie was deeply involved in running the Virginia Peninsula Chapter of the Mended Hearts, after having retired from working for the American Heart Association.
Soon after they got back together, they married. They saw no need to wait, Gussie said. He was 71, she was 70. And now both are actively involved in volunteering for the Heart Association.
``We are asking the citizens of Smithfield and Isle of Wight to respond generously,'' Gussie said. ``Every person's life is or will be touched by the effects of heart and circulatory diseases. The contributions made will continue the fight against early death from heart disease, stroke and other related conditions.''
Despite the efforts of volunteers - more than 100 of them are working in Isle of Wight this year - there still may be homes in this widespread county that are not contacted.
If your home happens to be one of them, you can mail gifts directly to the American Heart Association at 753 Thimble Shoals Blvd., Suite 2B, Newport News, Va. 23606.
It's a cause that touches all of us. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by LINDA McNATT
Gussie and Bob Sommers chair the campaign.
by CNB