
DATE: Thursday, April 3, 1997               TAG: 9704030391

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LIZ SZABO, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   84 lines

FROM DEATH, LIFE FOR OTHERS

Kristianne Salguet's death last month seemed senseless to those who loved her. But it has saved the lives of four strangers and, her friends say, contributed to the spiritual rebirth of nine souls.

At the location where her car crashed into a tree during a March 14 rainstorm, the 18-year-old woman's family has built a small memorial. And two weeks after her death at Norfolk General Hospital, a single red rose wilts on a desk in each of her classrooms at Great Bridge High School.

But Salguet's greatest memorials lie far from the accident site on Chesapeake's Hillwell Road. Her heart now beats in the body of a teen-age boy in Washington, D.C., who had waited three years for a transplant.

Her liver saved a 33-year-old mother of two in Delaware.

One of her kidneys was given to a 40-year-old Alabama woman, the other to a 40-year-old Richmond man.

The Washington teen-ager ``had been unable to attend school because of his illness,'' said Doug Wilson, spokesman for LifeNet, the Virginia Beach company that arranged the donation.

``Because he's doing great, he'll be able to attend school soon. . . These four people arealive and well because of Kristianne's gifts.''

Salguet had discussed with her parents her desire to be an organ donor.

``She believed that if she did (donate her organs), someone else's prayers would be answered,'' her stepfather, Roberto Salguet, said. ``The parents of this (Washington) kid had been praying for a heart for three years.

``It's a miracle for that boy.''

Kristianne Salguet, called Tina by her friends, was an officer of the Great Bridge Key Club and a member of the National Honor Society and her church's youth group. Her brothers and sisters described her as an outgoing young woman who was loyal to her friends.

The death of such a young person hit the small congregation at Freedom Baptist Church hard, said the pastor, the Rev. Ronald R. Harrison, whose daughters were two of Salguet's closest friends.

Harrison's daughters had introduced Salguet to their church. Salguet later brought her mother and four siblings, who had moved to the United States from the Philippines, to the congregation.

About 450 mourners filled Freedom Baptist for her funeral - more than twice the church's largest Easter attendance and one of the largest funerals Harrison had ever witnessed. Dozens of church members had prayed round-the-clock during Salguet's four days in the hospital. At times, as many as 20 people counseled and comforted the Salguets in the Burn and Trauma Unit waiting room, a friend said.

``We never knew we had this many friends,'' Roberto Salguet said. ``At the hospital, they had to give us our own waiting room because there were so many people there.''

The Rev. Daniel L. Steinman, the church's assistant pastor, prayed by Kristianne Salguet's side the night before she died.

``When you're at the hospital and you see the reality of the brevity of life, then your attention is focused on your relationship with God,'' Steinman said. ``People struggled with why does God allow things like this to happen. We don't know why he allows it or why he does it. But in Romans, Chapter 8, he says that everything that happens to someone who trusts Christ is good and is for their benefit.''

Salguet's early death and her relationship with church members have prompted nine friends and family members at Freedom Baptist to commit themselves to Christ, Harrison said. Among them were her stepfather, nurses from Norfolk General, Salguet's former teachers and her boyfriend, he said.

Roberto Salguet said his faith has helped him cope with the loss.

``I'm happy for her because she was saved before the accident,'' Salguet said. ``I believe she's in a better place, and she's happy now. . . We will never forget her.''

Salguet's mother, Flordeliza Javior Salguet, is in the Philippines, where she took her daughter's body for burial. Salguet's father and several relatives live in Manila, her birthplace. MEMO: For more information about organ donation, call LifeNet at

464-4761 or 1-800-847-7831. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

Kristianne "Tina" Salguet had expressed her wish to be an organ

donor.

Color photo by MORT FRYMAN/The Virginian-Pilot

In the 1000 block of Hillwell Road in Chesapeake, flowers and a

yellow ribbon serve as a memorial for Kristianne Salguet. The

18-year-old, a Great Bridge High School student, died four days

after her car crashed into a tree during a March 14 rainstorm. KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT TRAFFIC FATALITY ORGAN DONATION