THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 3, 1995 TAG: 9506020090
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By DIANE TENNANT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
THE STICKER on the blue Mustang says it all: No Fear.
Tina Buck, 16, is no longer afraid to leave the house or the hospital, no longer afraid to speak up in class, no longer afraid that her heart will stop beating.
One year ago, Tina stood in the Children's Hospital lobby at midnight, gazing down on the telethon, wishing for freedom. But she was tied to a heart monitor and an IV pole, waiting for a heart transplant.
On Aug. 4, Tina received her new heart. And then the hard part began: overcoming the fear that it, too, would fail.
She saw a psychologist, battled physical symptoms caused by mental anxiety, and went home to seek a normal life.
``I'm still scared of a lot of things,'' Tina said during a recent interview at her home. ``Roller coasters and biopsies.''
But she no longer counts the minutes until her next heart checkup. ``I don't even remember,'' she said, ``when my last visit was and when my next one is.''
Tina now goes to dances at Indian River High School, cruises her friends around the neighborhood in the Mustang she coveted all last year and volunteers at the local library.
And in mid-May, she went with the high school band to Atlanta, a big step toward independence from fear.
Tina's heart condition was discovered in April 1994, when she and her mother, Beverly Grover, stopped at the doctor's office on their way to shop for bathing suits. Doctors had told them that Tina was short of breath because of asthma, maybe bronchitis. But X-rays showed an enlarged heart, and Tina ended up in a hospital gown.
This year's shopping trip was a different story, although it had an eerie feel of deja vu for Beverly. ``We were leaving the house and going to the doctor's,'' Tina said, ``and then we were going bathing-suit shopping. I said, `Watch 'em say I have to stay,' and Mom said, `Don't even think that.' ''
Instead, Tina thinks about the tough school year she's had: geometry, chemistry, Spanish II, honors English, history and band. She thinks about the 100 kids who got driver's licenses at the same time she did and how upset she was that only four of them wanted to be organ donors.
``I try to tell people, `It's not going to hurt you,' '' she said. ``One kid said, `Don't be an organ donor or they'll take it when you're still alive.' I had to fuss about that, and I said, `Don't you think I'd know?' ''
Don't be afraid, Tina tells them. I know; I've been there.
No fear. MEMO: Tina Buck will appear on the telethon at about 4:30 p.m. Sunday.
13th CHILDREN'S MIRACLE NETWORK TELETHON Tina's, Jessica's and the
Taylor quads' stories will be told, along with hundreds of others, on
the 13th Children's Miracle Network Telethon, to be broadcast this
weekend on WVEC, Channel 13.
Local segments of the telecast will originate at Children's Hospital
of The King's Daughters, one of 161 hospitals that benefit from the
national telethon. The only specialized children's hospital in Hampton
Roads, CHKD has 173 beds and more than 50 outpatient specialty programs
such as asthma, diabetes, sickle cell disease and cancer.
WVEC will broadcast live from the hospital lobby from 11:35 tonight
through 8 p.m. Sunday.
The national telethon raised more than $125 million last year, and
the local telethon broke the million-dollar mark for the first time.
To phone in pledges during the telethon, call 668-9000 or
1-800-216-6667. And listen to the story of miracles.
ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
THEN: Just ask Tina Buck, 16, of Chesapeake. Last August, we told
you the story of her heart transplant at Children's Hospital of The
King's Daughters.
NOW:
[Color Photo]
MOTOYA NAKAMURA/Staff
by CNB