FAMILY OF HEART PATIENT SEEKS DONOR

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, January 11, 1993                   TAG: 9301110086
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: STATE  
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FAIRFAX                                LENGTH: Short
FAMILY OF HEART PATIENT SEEKS DONOR
The family of a 36-year-old woman in critical condition at Fairfax Hospital made an urgent appeal for a donated heart Saturday.
Loretta Brill of Winchester suffers from enlargement of the heart and desperately needs a new heart to stay alive, said her sister, Marie DeMello, of Scituate, Mass.
DeMello said the family hopes their story will reach someone who is deciding whether or not to donate the organs of a recently deceased family member.
She also said the family hopes to be repaid for a decision they made two years ago to donate the organs of their 24-year-old brother, who was killed in an accident caused by a drunken driver.
"It was a hard decision for us to make at the time, not knowing what we know now," she said. "We came to an agreement he would live on through someone else."
DeMello said her sister was diagnosed with her condition a year ago and has gotten steadily worse. She has been in the hospital three months.
Brill is a dental assistant. She and her husband, Stephen, have a 6-year-old daughter and a 5-year-old son.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB