THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 20, 1995 TAG: 9510200488
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
A Navy chief petty officer who organizes area bone marrow donor drives, volunteers for Salvation Army holiday events and makes frequent treks into city schools to campaign against illegal drug use has been chosen Military Citizen of the Year.
Cynthia F. Campbell, a yeoman assigned to Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach as a counseling and assistance center counselor, was named Thursday the 1995 recipient of the Samuel T. Northern Award.
The award goes to the military member who best demonstrates an interest to help the civilian community. She was awarded the honor at a Military Appreciation Week luncheon at Omni Waterside Hotel.
``I feel very honored and it was just a wonderful surprise,'' Campbell said after the ceremony Thursday.
But the best reward she could get from the honor would be to have more people sign up for the bone marrow donor program, she said.
Campbell first became interested in the bone marrow program after seeing a civilian co-worker's daughter die from leukemia.
She placed her name on a bone marrow donor registry in an effort to help her friend. Unfortunately, a match could not be found.
Two years ago a shipmate also died when he could not find a suitable bone marrow match.
``After his death, I really threw myself into this. It's an awful lot of work. Sometimes its real frustrating. Not everyone has the same zeal as I do,'' she said.
Most frustrating, said Campbell, is getting people to understand the program and its lack of risks.
``Most people, once they realize what it's all about - that this is their (patients') only shot at getting into full remission and recovery . . . then they say OK.''
Campbell organized her first bone marrow drive in Hampton Roads in July 1993 in connection with the C.W. ``Bill'' Young Marrow Donor Center in Bethesda, Md.
Since then, she has been credited with putting 2,353 additional donors on the national registry by conducting 16 of the drives, according to Capt. W.H. Shurtleff, Oceana's commanding officer.
Her latest was Tuesday and Wednesday at Little Creek and the Norfolk Naval Station.
Militarywide, the Pentagon has set a goal of adding 25,000 people to the list each year.
For Campbell, a 15-year Navy veteran from Oak Hill, W.Va., the bone marrow program is a gift of life.
``Would you be willing to undergo a little discomfort . . . or maybe a lot depending on your threshold . . . to help somebody?''
If so, call Campbell at work, 433-3433.
When she is not seeking donors, Campbell is working the area schools, in uniform, with Campaign Drug Free, a Navy Reserve effort to show students why they should avoid drugs.
At other times, especially during the Christmas holiday season, she takes a week's leave to help the Salvation Army with its ``Angel Tree'' program, preparing gifts for people who cannot afford them.
In her spare time, Campbell is completing work on her doctorate degree in urban studies from Old Dominion University.
And lastly, Chief Campbell is scheduled to receive her officer's commission as an ensign next year through the limited duty officer program. In June she will report aboard the carrier John C. Stennis, currently under construction at Newport News Shipbuilding, as an administrative officer. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
HUY NGUYEN/The Virginian-Pilot
Chief Petty Officer Cynthia F. Campbell says being named Military
Citizen of the Year is nice, but she would rather see folks honor
her by enrolling in a bone marrow donor program. The yeoman assigned
to Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach, also works the local
schools, in uniform, with Campaign Drug Free. And she works with the
Salvation Army's ``Angel Tree'' program.
by CNB