Krysta Hankee Memorial Fund
Bill White
The Morning Call
September 1, 2015
“I’m a judge every year for children’s essays promoting organ donation, so when I wrote my own essay for Sunday’s paper, I felt a little extra pressure.
My column was prompted by the donation of Indy Car driver Justin Wilson’s organs in the wake of his recent fatal accident at Pocono Raceway. His family reported that his organs had saved six lives, and I commented on the fact that only 46 percent of Pennsylvania drivers have the organ donor designation on their licenses.
Most importantly, I urged people who support organ donation to express their wishes to their families so there’s no ambiguity if a tragedy should arise.
One of the comments I received came from Bill Hankee. I’ll share more detail about his daughter Krysta in a moment, but first, here’s what he wrote:
“Thank you Bill. You saved lives today. It was so important in your article that you stressed communicating your wishes to your family. Our family has been touched by donation. Our daughter Krysta became a donor at the age of 22 and her thoughtful,caring Aunt Monica died at the age of 60 waiting for a new liver that never came. Today you gave the Lehigh Valley a compelling reason to become a donor.”
His email included a link to the family’s website for the Krysta Hankee Memorial Fund, which provides promotes organ and tissue donation and provides educational grants and as gas cards for medical travel. By all means check it out to see if there’s a way you can help.
Here’s what the site says about Krysta:
Krysta, daughter of Bill and Chris Hankee, collapsed while exercising in a gym in New York City in September of 2007, at the age of 22, and died a few days later. She loved her friends, family and community. She graduated from Northwestern Lehigh High School in 2003 where she excelled as a student and athlete. Krysta attended The American University in Washington, D.C. for two years and was a member of the American University Field Hockey Team (Patriot League Champions). She was a Patriot League Scholar Athlete both years. Krysta graduated from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University in Manhattan in 2007, with a degree in Marketing and Foreign Business. Upon graduation she secured employment as an assistant project manager at Triangle Equities of Whitestone, New York where she worked until her tragic death.
This reinforces one of the important points I tried to make, which is that organ donation gives a grieving family a way to take something positive away from a tragedy. Many of these donor families have become active participants in the Gift of Life Donor Program, and their stories are inspiring.
I’ve been particularly moved by stories about parents who had the opportunity to hear their child’s heart beat in another person’s chest, a graphic reminder that they saved a life. Here’s a video of one such case.
My colleague Keith Groller did an article about the Hankees back in 2010. I’ll finish with an important passage from his story.
Stunned by the sudden tragedy of their daughter, the Hankees at first didn’t know what to do when asked about organ and tissue donation.
”It was like ‘Oh, my gosh.’ I didn’t know what to say,” said Bill Hankee, Krysta’s father. ”But in Pennsylvania, we can designate our choices on our driver’s license and Krysta identified herself as an organ donor. So that made our decision a lot easier.”
It was a decision the Hankees are so glad they made, and one they encourage others to make as well.”