Published: June 07, 2007 11:43 pm         

Family of 11-year-old Cameron Langenfeld would like to meet recipients of donated organs

TERRE HAUTE — Paul Langenfeld said he is looking forward someday to meeting “a piece of my little red-headed boy.”

Langenfeld’s son Cameron, 11, died over the weekend after his bicycle was struck by a car on Fruitridge Avenue on June 1.

Cameron’s organs were donated through the Indiana Organ Procurement Organization.

Langenfeld eventually could meet the person who benefited from his son’s donated organs, said Sam Davis, an official with IOPO in Indianapolis. A donor’s family can meet an organ recipient once both parties agree to a meeting, Davis said.

IOPO officials told Cameron’s parents all four of the organs removed from the boy’s body were donated to a single recipient.

“They [at IOPO] said that’s never happened before,” Paul Langenfeld said.

The decision to donate Cameron’s organs was made over the weekend at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, said Pam Bird, Cameron’s mother. She and her eldest son Cole, 13, made the decision, she said.

Doctors pronounced Cameron dead Sunday morning.

“He was always a giving kid,” Bird said of her son. She said Cameron’s concern for others made it less difficult for her and Cole to make the decision to let Cameron help someone else after his death.

Through organ donation, “some good could come from all this bad,” Paul Langenfeld said.

“We are always working to make sure people are aware of the importance of organ donation,” said JoAnn Klooz, a spokeswoman for Clarian Health, which includes Riley Hospital for Children. Clarian works closely with IOPO to facilitate organ donations, she said.

There were 170 organ donors in Indiana in 2006, according to IOPO figures. From those donors, 582 organs were transplanted, IOPO reports.

Langenfeld took a partially melted pocket knife from the wooden “memory box” IOPO officials gave him after his son’s organs were donated.

IOPO gives a “memory box” to families of donors to place things inside that help them remember the donor.

“It was so moving when they handed me this box,” Paul Langenfeld said, adding he broke down when he received it. He placed the knife inside because it was symbolic of his son’s thoughtfulness, he said.

Doctors were able to find a recipient for Cameron’s pancreas, liver, small intestines and kidneys, Bird said. They were not able to use his heart because “he fought so hard to stay with us,” she said.

Cameron was always there for other people, Bird said. He would be angry about the accident that took his life, but “at least there was something he could do for someone else,” she said. “That would have made it OK with Cam,” she said.

Arthur Foulkes can be contacted at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com