Heart of gold
Months after his death, Davey Hood
still making impact on his friends, family

Therese Cox <therese@dailymail.com>
Daily Mail health reporter

Tuesday July 08, 2003; 11:00 AM

Davey Hood is still making people laugh -- because there are so many ironies, coincidences and miracles surrounding his life and death, his family said.

The 16-year-old was struck by a hit-and-run driver in Cross Lanes as he was walking to a friend's house in the early hours of last Sept. 28. The friend had needed some emotional support and, as usual, Davey was willing to help.

Davey always seemed to be the one who could comfort or cajole the other students at Nitro High School. Sometimes his antics got him in trouble.

"Ever since the ninth grade you have been there to make me laugh in my worst of moods," one friend wrote in a memory book begun while Davey languished for three days before his death in a hospital intensive care unit.

Although his parents, David and Debbie Hood, still grieve, they have discovered meaning in the messages they feel Davey is sending them via angels, pennies, poems, songs and even a fake, jewel-studded Rolex watch that washed up on a Puerto Rican beach.

"There can't be that many coincidences," Debbie said about her only child.

The entire family -- grandparents, aunts and uncles -- also believe Davey lives on in the several recipients of his donated organs.

His heart is beating inside a 47-year-old Pittsburgh postal worker and father of six children. A 16-year-old boy is alive thanks to Davey's liver. A 23-year-old received Davey's intestines and bone marrow. Two others can see because of his corneas.

"To me, this is typical of Davey," said his mother. "You can't imagine him taking that life with him.

"I've got grandchildren now," she said, referring to the postal worker's kids.

Davey loved music, and a teacher persuaded him to join the high school show choir. Incubus, Tupac Shakur and Josh Groban were among his favorites.

For his 16th birthday, on Dec. 8, 2001, his parents took him to Puerto Rico. The trip changed his life.

"He went from being a silly kid to mature," Debbie said about her 6-foot-5-inch son, who wore size 14 shoes. He weighed a full 10 pounds at birth.

Davey dreamed of returning to Puerto Rico, perhaps on his 17th birthday.

But it was not to be.

Convinced it was the right thing to do, his parents made the trip without their beloved son. Standing at the railing of a cruise ship one night at 10, Debbie prayed for comfort and for some sign that Davey knew they were there for him.

"We started finding pennies everywhere," she said. Then she learned some people believe pennies mean angels are present. Later she found a diamond stud on the coffee table in their cabin. Davey had worn one just like it in his ear but had lost it.

Still later, walking on the beach, they found a fake Rolex watch with paste diamonds, just like the one Davey wore to playfully aggravate his mother.

Then there are the songs.

Nitro High's show choir won several awards singing "To Where You Are" and other songs. Debbie and Davey's friends appreciate the words, especially after one member happened to glance at the rafters during a particularly slow choir practice one day when their spirits just weren't stirring.

"Davey is here with us," his friend shouted, pointing to the rafter.

There, in pencil, was scrawled "Davey." No one had noticed it before he died.

The Hoods played the Groban song at his funeral:

"Who can say for certain?" the song begins. "Maybe you're still here. I feel you all around me. Your memories so clear. . . And I believe that angels breathe and that love will live on and never leave."

When the Hoods attended the Center for Organ Recovery and Education's memorial service for organ donors in Pittsburgh in April, "To Where You Are" was sung as doves were released into the sky.

Davey's classmates tend to gather on the second of every month at the mausoleum where Davey is buried. They also showed up on his birthday. Debbie presented a slide show about his life to the song, "I Can Only Imagine."

Because they wanted to give back to Davey, students at Nitro High and others donated money for a scholarship in his name. They also have developed a memory garden at the school with a bench, boxwoods and a pear tree.

Still unknown is the identity of the person who struck Davey and that remains painful to the family. In addition to the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department, Davey's uncle, retired state trooper Donald Carpenter, is working on the case.

They believe the vehicle that struck him was a red 1979 or 1980 Chevrolet C-20 pickup truck.

"It seems to be easier on the person when he comes forward," Carpenter said. "Coming forward would be a great gift to our family."

Meanwhile, the Hoods are hoping someday to meet one or more of the recipients of Davey's organs. Before his death, Debbie said she was set against organ donation. But she realized she couldn't let his heart die along with the rest of his body.

"We feel like they're extended family now," she said. "They couldn't have gotten a better kid."

Photographs and other memorabilia are posted on www.daveyhood.com.

Writer Therese Smith Cox can be reached at 348-4874.