As the anesthesia started to take effect, my mind began, for the 
first time, to try to focus on the surgery immediately ahead.  I was 
not frightened.  I had complete confidence in the heart transplant 
team.  I was at peace with God, I understood the risk, and I knew 
that I had no other choice.  My last thoughts were of Kristi.
                  
Kristi Lynne Brown had been the donor for the fifth heart 
transplant recipient at Fairfax Hospitalnearly eight years earlier;  
if all went well, I was about to become the 97th.  Kristi had also
been the 19 year old daughter of our neighbors, Bill and Karen Brown, 
who lived directly across the street from us at the time.

Kristi was born in Shreveport, Louisiana on March 16, 1968.  
Bill was in the Air Force, and over the next several years, his family 
moved with him to Alaska, Virginia, Michigan, Utah, and California 
before settling in Springfield in 1979.  Throughout this period Kristi, 
her older sister, Kim, and her younger brother, Allen, had 
experienced the challenging life of a military family during the 
Vietnam War era.  Their father was gone for a year during a tour in 
Vietnam, and there was the ever-present concern that he might not 
return.  Every few years, the family had to pack up and move to a 
new location for Bill’s next duty assignment.  As Sharry and I knew 
from our own experience, these moves are stressful for adults, but 
there is frequently a more profound impact on the children.  They 
must leave their playmates and friends from school, travel to an 
entirely new (and often strange) area, and try to pick up life as if 
nothing had happened.  Making friends at a new school is often 
difficult, particularly as the student reaches junior and senior high 
school.  Some children of military families simply give up trying to 
fit in because they know that they will be leaving the area in a 
short time, so why try?

It is necessary to understand this background in order to fully 
appreciate how special Kristi Brown was.  When she arrived in 
Springfield, she was a 6th grader. She immediately became involved 
in a variety of activities.  She was a particularly skilled soccer player 
and quickly became a key member of one of the most successful 
youth teams in the state.  Kristi was outgoing and her enthusiasm 
was contagious.  Everyone liked her.

I had met the Browns shortly after we moved to the Winston 
Knolls area of Springfield in 1982.  They were the type of neighbors 
who exude hospitality.  Karen made us cookies shortly after our 
arrival, and Bill was always available with tools which I did not have.  
Even though she had known us for a very short time, Kristi would 
always, as she bounded out their front door and saw me, wave and 
yell across the street, “Hi, Mr. Linz, how are you?

Over the next several years, I learned that Kristi “bounded” 
everywhere. She was a total bundle of energy.  In high school, she 
was a cheerleader and varsity soccer player all four years. She was 
chosen as a co-captain for both during her junior and senior years.  
Kristi also participated in a variety of school clubs and still found 
time for church and community activities.  Her youth soccer team 
won the state and East Coast Regional championship and finished 
second in the country in her age group.  She was a true student-
athlete who excelled both in the classroom and on the playing fields.  
Her teachers and coaches respected her, her classmates enjoyed 
being around her, and we certainly loved having her as a neighbor.  
She was a genuinely popular young lady.

In her senior year, Kristi visited "Duke", Penn 
State, and several other universities before deciding to study 
architecture at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.  She was 
awarded two scholarships and began studies there in the fall of 
1986.

While at the university, Kristi maintained close contact with 
her friends from high school, but also joined Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority and 
developed new friendships at UVA.  She completed her freshman 
year having excelled academically and socially.  Making the 
transition from high school to college had been no problem for Kristi.
In May of 1987, Kristi came home to live with her family for 
the summer.  Her summer job required that she commute daily to 
various locations in the northern Virginia and D.C. area.  While 
driving home from work on June 24, 1987, Kristi was savagely taken 
from us.

Kristi was heading south on the outer loop of the D.C. Beltway 
just before 4 PM.  Her car was a large, older model, a ’77 Oldsmobile.  
Knowing Kristi, I imagine that she was probably listening to music on 
the radio and planning her evening ahead.  As she was approaching 
the halfway point home, nearing the Tyson’s Corner area in Virginia, 
a driver on the inner loop of the Beltway lost control of his station 
wagon, swerved into the guard rail on his right, and rebounded back 
into the traffic.  He crashed into a Subaru station wagon, locking 
bumpers in the process.  The two joined cars then together crossed 
three lanes of traffic, raced out of control up a grassy embankment 
separating the opposite sides of the Beltway before becoming 
airborne as they flew more than five feet above the ground directly 
toward Kristi’s Oldsmobile.  The driver of the Subaru told police, “I 
heard the impact, and the next thing I knew we were in the air.”

It is doubtful that Kristi knew what hit her.  Following the 
collision, the Oldsmobile landed upside down on its top.  Kristi’s 
injuries were massive.  She was airlifted to nearby Fairfax Hospital
and taken immediately to surgery by a team of neurosurgeons.

Bill and Karen were both home when a phone call came to them 
nearly two hours later.  Karen answered and was told by a police 
spokesman, “There is reason to believe that your daughter is in 
Fairfax Hospital.  She was in an automobile accident on the Beltway.”  
Because Kristi’s purse and identification had been left behind in 
the Oldsmobile, her identity was initially unknown.  She had been 
admitted to the hospital as a Jane Doe.  It was only later that 
a positive identification was made.

Karen had heard an earlier traffic report on the radio 
describing the Beltway accident and was worrying that Kristi might 
have been held up by the associated tie-up.  As time passed and 
Kristi did not arrive home, Karen became even further worried. The 
phone call confirmed her worst fears.

When Bill and Karen arrived at the hospital, they learned that 
Kristi had suffered major head injuries. The prognosis was not good.  
When the surgeons spoke with the Browns after surgery, they said 
that they felt that there was no hope that Kristi might live.  

After the initial shock, Bill asked the doctors about possible 
organ donation.   He was told that two neurosurgeons would have to 
independently examine Kristi and declare her to be brain dead.  The 
older doctor added that a representative of the local organ transplant 
group would arrive shortly to discuss options and procedures.

The wait for the neurosurgeons to complete their examinations 
was excruciating for both Bill and Karen.  At 9:57 PM the Browns 
were told that Kristi had officially been declared brain dead.  

Unlike many other families, the Browns knew exactly how 
Kristi felt about organ transplants.  Bill recalled that she had 
expressed her feelings on at least three separate occasions.  In each 
case she had stated emphatically that she could not understand why 
someone would not donate and that, if the situation ever arose, she 
wished that all of her organs would be made available for transplant.  
She had also indicated on her driver’s license her desire to donate.  
(Although it is a good idea to indicate one’s preference concerning 
organ donation on the driver’s license, it is not a sufficient criteria in 
most states.  Nearly all U.S. transplant centers require explicit 
written approval of the next-of-kin before transplant procedures can 
begin. This is why it is so important to discuss this issue with your 
family).

As Bill and Karen struggled with the shock that their younger 
daughter was no longer with them, they took some solace in the fact 
that Kristi would now be able to continue in death to do what she 
had so consistently done in life:  provide joy to others.  
Because of their certainty of Kristi’s wishes and their own 
positive feelings with respect to transplant operations, Bill and Karen 
did not hesitate to agree when the transplant representative arrived 
to explain the program and to request their approval to proceed.  
They indicated their intentions to both Kim and Allen, but both were 
in such total shock over the loss of their sister that they could not 
talk.

The transplant representative was a Registered Nurse.  As he 
talked with the Browns, he used a checklist to go over the procedures 
involved in organ donation.  He also discussed the consent forms 
which had to be signed prior to beginning the transplant process.  
Karen and Bill listened patiently and, upon learning that Kristi had 
been declared brain dead, consented to the transplant of her heart, 
kidneys and cornea. (Kristi’s liver had been seriously damaged in the 
accident and was not suitable for transplantation). 

 The Browns were told that medical information concerning 
Kristi would be immediately placed into the national computer 
system for organ donation.  As soon as a potential recipient was 
identified based on an appropriate match of blood type, heart size 
and other parameters including location, transplant procedures could 
begin.  Coincidentally, a patient there at Fairfax Hospital, a man 
in his 30’s, was suffering from a very serious cardiac condition 
and was selected to be the recipient of Kristi’s heart the following 
morning.  The transplant surgeons for each organ were 
then notified. They, in turn, continued the process by giving 
appropriate instructions for the hospital to proceed.

Karen asked how Kristi’s body would be affected by the 
transplantation process. The RN told her that the donor would be 
treated with dignity.  The Browns later learned that Kristi had been 
placed under anesthesia for the removal of her organs.  It was not 
until several years later, however, that Bill and Karen learned that an 
open casket funeral is possible following most transplant procedures.  
In view of Kristi’s serious head injuries from the accident, they had 
decided to have a closed casket so that Kristi would be remembered 
as the bouncy girl with the perpetual smile.

Still devastated by the loss of their daughter, the Browns 
returned home. They could not sleep, but there was some comfort in 
their knowledge that Kristi’s organs would soon be providing new 
life to others.       

Procedures to facilitate transplant operations have been 
refined and improved in most locales in the seven years since Kristi’s 
accident.  Here in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area there is now 
a formal organization, the Washington Regional Transplant 
Consortium (WRTC), which coordinates transplants for the 43 
hospitals and 7 transplant centers in the area.  The WRTC is a non-
profit organization which provides services for all types of organ and 
tissue transplants (heart, liver, kidneys, pancreas, corneas, bone, 
skin, heart valves, blood vessels, etc).  It serves as a link between the 
local community and the national organization, the United Network 
for Organ Sharing (UNOS), to ensure equal access for all patients 
awaiting an operation at the nearly 300 transplant centers in the 
United States.

UNOS, as mandated by the National Transplant Act, maintains a 
computerized list of all patients who are waiting for an organ 
transplant.  Priorities are determined based on specific rules 
applicable to the entire nation.  It does not matter where in the U.S. a 
potential donor or recipient is located.  Everyone must follow the 
same rules based on need and availability.

 When a donor in the Washington, D.C. area is identified, all 
appropriate medical data (blood group, age, height, weight, etc.) is 
gathered by the WRTC and transmitted electronically to the UNOS 
computer system.  UNOS then immediately initiates procedures to 
determine the best possible match between the donor and those 
waiting for various organs.  It is not always a simple process.  For 
example, although a person with A + blood type in California may 
have a higher priority than a patient in North Carolina, the organ 
involved may be able to tolerate only a short interval between 
removal and implantation, precluding the availability of its use in 
California if the transportation time is too great.  There are different 
maximum time intervals for different organs.  Hearts, for example, 
can usually be “out of body” a maximum of approximately four to six 
hours using current techniques;  kidneys can tolerant considerably 
longer periods (24 to 36 hours).  In general, the shorter the time 
between removal and implantation, the better the chance for success.  
It is not unusual, therefore, for organs from the same donor to be 
routed to recipients in different parts of the country.

In spite of the tremendous ethical, religious, legal and logistic 
pressures involved in organ transplantation, the operation of UNOS 
nationally, and the WRTC locally, is generally regarded as a major 
success story.  As with any national program, there have 
undoubtedly been a few instances in which rules were bent or 
circumvented, but, on the whole, there have been a tremendous 
number of “happy endings” due to the efforts of UNOS and local 
organizations such as the WRTC.  I certainly was comfortable with 
their work. 

Although the transplant procedures did not delay or alter 
preparations for the funeral, the Browns still had to confront the 
difficult process of making arrangements while in the midst of shock 
and grief.  A memorial service was held the following Saturday at 
Grace Presbyterian Church in Springfield and was attended by over 
500.  Many of Kristi’s friends, including her high school principal, 
shared their memories of her during the service.  Several described 
her as “everyone’s best friend.”  Karen brought photos and several of 
the poems which Kristi had written to pass around.  As her favorite 
song, “You’ve got a Friend,” was sung, many of us in attendance 
openly wept.  The lyrics had a particular significance and poignancy 
for those of us who were aware that Kristi’s organs were giving life 
to others.

Kristi was buried two days later at Arlington National 
Cemetery.  Her grave site was on a quiet hill, under trees fresh with 
new leaves.   Coincidentally, two other University of Virginia 
students were buried next to her just a few months later.  The 
service included no gun salutes or bugles as typically heard during 
burials at Arlington, but rather only the quiet remarks of her soccer 
coach and pastor.  Several friends came forward to place flowers on 
the coffin.  When the headstone was later put in place, Bill and Karen 
chose to have the words of Peter Marshall inscribed:  “The measure 
of a life is not its duration, but its donation.”

Kristi’s organs continue to provide life to others.  The recipient 
of her heart, a man then 31 years old (with a three year old 
daughter), is enjoying a full and active life today.  He later wrote to 
the Browns,  “Thank God for people like you who realize just how 
precious human life is that at the most painful time of your life, you 
have the compassion to give that gift to someone who would 
otherwise lose it.  You have given my family and me that gift.... 
Because of your complete and unselfish generosity, my own daughter 
will not have to grow up without her Daddy.

Both of Kristi's kidneys were also successfully transplanted.  
One was given to a 57 year old woman, and the other to a woman of 
50.  Her corneas restored the gift of sight to two others, a 25 year old 
man and a 60 year old woman.

In conversations over the next several years, Bill told me that 
he never had second thoughts about their decision to donate Kristi’s 
organs.  The easiest part, he told me, was the decision itself.  The 
difficulty was in burying her.

Karen became involved in several activities to continue Kristi’s 
legacy of assisting others.  A fund was established in conjunction 
with the local Rotary Club and K-Mart for an annual Christmas event, 
“Kristi’s Christmas,” in which underprivileged children were given the 
opportunity to receive toys and clothing.  Each December the front 
windows of the K-Mart in downtown Springfield are covered with 
red paper hearts containing the names of hundreds who have 
donated to Kristi’s Christmas.  Karen also established links with the 
Transplant Consortium to speak before various organizations 
providing her perspective as the parent of an organ donor.  

I had thought of Kristi often during THE WAIT.  I knew that my 
only hope for survival would be the untimely death of someone like 
her.  I knew that a family, such as the Browns, would have to 
confront the same terrible decision which they had faced.  There 
would be no time for lengthy discussion or gathering of views.  My 
fate lay in the hands of a grief-stricken family who did not know me 
and a God in whom I had placed my faith and trust.

As I passed into unconsciousness on my way to receive a new 
heart, I knew that some family had given such a gift for me.  I knew 
nothing about them or the actual donor.  It gave me considerable 
comfort, however, that I had known Kristi and her family.  Kristi 
would always be my “spiritual donor,” that is, a face and a 
personality that I could associate with my actual donor.  Her joy had 
been contagious, her life had been an exclamation point.  I was 
determined that, God willing, I would use my new heart to follow her 
example of trying to make life just a little better for those around 
me.

In one of her last writings, Kristi composed the following poem, 
which was found after her death in a journal next to her bed:

                        LIFE

Life is not long enough to accomplish all your goals.
Life is too short to waste a minute of.
Life always has to end sometime or another.
It ends when you least expect it.

Life ends instantaneously for some,
Life’s end is long and painful for others.
Life’s end is known by some, but for others,
It ends when you least expect it.

Life is good to most people for a long time,
Life takes some people very early on.
Life fights with death for the cream of the crop.
It ends when you least expect it.

Life is taken advantage of by some, others live life one
Day at a time, and cross bridges when they come to them.
Life usually ends for the careful ones, not the careless.
It ends when you least expect it.

Life’s end is welcomed by those who are suffering.
Life’s end is not welcomed for those who are not.
Life is hard after a loved one dies, but
It ends when you least expect it.
Life is a terrible thing to waste.
 

Kristi Lynne Brown, March 16, 1968 - June 24, 1987
 

Read an excerpt from CH 10: The Crash

The Transplant Library

Last modified: 11 May 2000