After a Swine Flu Death, Bucks Family Finds a Cause

A Bucks County family is turning a personal tragedy into a campaign to give others hope.

KYW's Pat Loeb reports they took their effort to Monday's Phillies-Marlins game.

There, amid the usual sea of red, was a sizeable island of orange.

That was 13-year-old Timmy Raymond's favorite color so supporters wore it as part of his parents' efforts to recruit more child organ donors.

Timmy got swine flu last November. His mom, Tina Raymond, says it destroyed his lungs; his only hope was a lung transplant. It took four months to find a donor and by that time, his immune system was so weak, he never recovered from the surgery. He died in March.

"That's a pretty common occurence for us, that children wait a very long time on the transplant list," says Dr. Todd Kilbaugh, who treated Tim at CHOP.

Tim's death gave the Raymonds a cause.

"Our goal is to get parents, who are probably already organ donors themselves, to think-- if something horrible happened to your child, would you have your child be an organ donor?" says Tina. "If you were willing to accept an organ for your child to live, wouldn't you be willing for your child to save someone else's life?"

Many of Timmy's friends have already thought about it.

"I didn't think about it before everything happened," said 13-year-old Emma Burke, "but now that a dear friend passed away, I really want to give back in that way."

The tailgate party at the Phillies game was their fourth event.

Tina says she's heartened to know some good is coming from Timmy's death.