European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 31, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Lee Gutkind author of Many sleepless nights poses outside the children s Hospital of Pittsburgh. The human Side of Organ transplants by Marcia Dunn associated Pressw Hen English professor Lee Gutkind of Pittsburgh set out Lour years ago to Wale a Book about Organ transplants he knew Little about Medicine and dreaded hospitals and thoughts about death. All that changed As Gulk and became immersed in a medical world normally closed to outsiders. Like the transplant patients he portrays in his recently published Many sleepless nights. Bulkind was swept up in the drama of saving and losing lives in the Stream of Sull ering and courage. When he was Wilh the surgeons he says he saw matters from their Point of View. When he was with the patients he saw and Felt from theirs. A patients resented the surgeons then so did i says Bulkind 45. I know that sounds kind of funny being thai kind of Erma Bombeck Chameleon. Bui i think a writer has to do that. And when these patients died i made sure i spent time Wilh surgeons rather than with the other patients. I just Felt safer and More secure surrounded by this invisible Wall these men and women build  earlier this year though As Bulkind was putting he finishing touches on his Book that Wall was shattered. Despite his self imposed Rule of not becoming personally involved with someone who might die Gutkind had become close to Frank Rowe 38, an Industrial psychologist from Philadelphia in need of a heart lungs transplant and Brian Reames 42, a doctoral student in psychology irom Greenville who needed a second heart transplant. Both got the operations they needed. And both died within a week of one another in february Side by Side at presbyterian University Hospital of Pittsburgh. A. They were my friends Gutkind says. He lefts their stories but could t bring himself to record their deaths in his Book. They had to live at least in my  it was listening to their stories and the stories of several Hundred other patients and relatives that helped Gutkind push aside his own fears. Here were people who had laced death. And wanted very much indeed to talk about what they had gone through he said. I think that was the Bridge for  Gutkind an associate professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh currently on sabbatical. Decided to depict the human Side of transplantation in Early 1984 alter Reading about the Swift in evolving Field in a news Magazine he was Hunting for a topic for his fourth non fiction Book. I had written about the motorcycle subculture baseball umpires Mountain people he said. They were  books. They wore fun to write and the people were great to meet. But i never had been Given the Opportunity to in any Way shape Public opinion or record literal Lile and death  the Book was published in August. A Book like Gull and s is healthy for both the Public and profession says Brian Broznick director of the Pittsburgh transplant foundation. A lot of people still think this is something we re. Creating trom the Days old. Frankenstein says Broznick. A lot of times we try to make transplantation sound like something exotic and it s not. It s something that s common an everyday surgical  Gutkind gradually got to know the transplant stall although at first he was ignored while tagging along on Hospital rounds. No one was less communicative than those  he says. They d look at you and not sea you. They could talk around you for weeks without even hearing what your name is. They re so obsessed with what they re  Gutkind eventually went with transplant Pioneer or. Thomas e. Starzl and other University of Pittsburgh surgeons on about a dozen trips to procure donor organs. He also watched 50 to 60 transplant operations. His research led him to Lour Olar transplant centers in the United Stales and three in England. Yeah All these people had ego problems he says. But they were extraordinarily cooperative. Starzl who was allegedly so difficult to talk to was As open As anyone i be Ever  no question was Loo personal Gutkind says no topic too controversial. Among other things he deals with the social and psychological problems experienced by patients following transplantation. They Are olten overlooked by professionals. Gull and says. He struggled throughout to Reserve judgment. Patients would get so angry sometimes at the surgeons he says. I watched while some of ins surgeons might not have answered questions adequately might have said i m too Busy i can t Lalk to you. I la be Back later and never come Back on the other hand i saw the reasons Why they did t come Back and i know that when they said they were Loo Busy they really were. And when they were sometimes insensitive 1 knew that on the floor above maybe someone else just  perhaps his toughest task was deciding whose stories to include. He purposely had avoided cases spotlighted by the news Media. He wrote about Dick and Sharon Becker of Hunter Villa n.c., who donated he organs of their 15 year old son Richie killed in 1985 in a car crash. He wrote about Winifred Fulk of Kansas City. Mo., who received Richie s heart and lungs and Rebecca treat of Sacramento. Calif., who got his liver. He wrote about Rowa and Reames and others live them who put it All on the line. He wrote about Starzl and or. Hartley Griffith a leading heart transplant surgeon and their supporting casts i wanted to communicate the essence of people what they go through what they think about he says. I be unmasked them to a certain  All my life i be lived next to a Sherry Laibach what s a Sherry Kasbach h a Clever person who is a creative crafts lecturer and author usually irom Cleona. Pa., who sees exciting possibilities in everything she touches. There is no such thing As a throwaway. Old potato peelings turn into necklaces discarded dental floss is Woven into rugs before your eyes and you Don t want to see what she comes up with at halloween. Well the other Day i opened the mail and to and behold in was an ornament from Sherry or my Christmas tree. That s another thing. Her Christmas ornaments Are All made by aug. 15. Ii was a precious Little mouse made out of get hold of yourself cooked dryer lint. Give me a break Sherry. Do i need a guilt trip for throwing away lint now 1 know As sure As i m sitting Here that readers of this column will write and say i want to make a mouse out of cooked dryer lint. Would you Potase Send me the recipe people Are like that. Of according to Sherry you begin Wilh three cups of dryer lint and add some water. Stir till thoroughly moistened and blend in flour. Turn on the stove. I Hale it when they Lalk Down to me continue stirring Over heat until thickened. Never never leave this mixture unattended on the  says Sherry As this would be one Heck of a lire to explain to a firefighter. Throw the glob onto some Wax paper to Cool and in a Lew minutes you have a modelling material that can be shaped and  the Lack that Sherry does not have a dryer does not deter her in the least. Her neighbors have responded Wilh Bartuls of Gray lint. Boring underwear but Sherry has come up with a Way to Cotor the tint and is now doing pastel ornaments. Looking at that Cuta Little mouse my heart starts beating faster my mind begins to race and for a moment i am stripping my Beds of blankets to throw them in the dryer to make lint and spend the rest of my Days making mice in a Saucepan. Then i get hold of myself and remember the Christmas Wreath i made out of a Coal Hanger and nose tissue. I remember the Christmas ornament i tried to fashion Oul of a Pih Container and a Pickle Jar lid. Of and the eggs i voided to make Faberge eggs trimmed in Macaroni. Somehow a Eulogy comes to mind some see things As they Are and say. Why i dream of things that never were and say. Don t make yourself  cilia Emu bomb Page 16 the stars and stripes monday october 31,1sb8