Blood Drive Held for Surviving Motorcycle Crash Victim

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http://www.whtm.com/news/stories/0710/751598.html Blood Drive Held for Surviving Motorcycle Crash Victim 07/01/10 5:53 pm | reporter: Ali Lanyon posted by: Ali Lanyon

related stories: Lancaster DA To Handle Fatal Cycle Crash Update: 5 Motorcycle Riders Killed in Crash Police ID Motorcycle-Van Crash Victims 5 People Killed in Motorcycle Crash Lancaster, Pa. - Co-workers at RR Donnelly in Lancaster County think very highly of Kristin Skowood.

"Outgoing...doesn't know a stranger," said her supervisor Joyce Gross. "Just full of life and love and a great person."

Thursday, they held a blood drive in her honor. Skowood, 26 and a graphic designer, was critically injured in a horrible crash Sunday evening on Route 72 in Penn Township. The crash involved three motorcycles, each with two riders, and a Harrisburg City Cab van. Five of the motorcycle riders were killed including Skowood's mother and step-father, Linda and Sam Lapp, and her finace Josh Pennington, a veteran of the war in Iraq (web | news) . Her friends Butch and Amy Wilhelm also died. ABC 27 Talkback: Click Here to Comment on this Story

"I can't even imagine what she's going to go through when she finds out," said Mike Evans, who sits next to Skowood at work. "I don't think she knows."

Friends said Skowood is still unconscious and underwent surgery Thursday.

"She looked like an angel," Gross said after visiting her in the hospital. "Her face just looked sweet as can be lying there."

The blood drive was held at Lancaster General Hospital's Suburban Outpatient clinic. In all, 63 co-workers donated blood in Kristin's honor.

"It's just such a tragedy," Gross said. "I think like everyone else I want to do whatever I can for her."

"It definitely feels good to be able to help Kristin or anybody in her situation," Evans said.

The blood collected will stay at Lancaster General Hospital and benefit local patients. For each unit of blood collected, three different patients could be helped.

Perhaps some of the blood could go to Skowood herself.

"There's a great chance that she would but we would never know because they don't track it to be able to tell the donors," said Amy Welsh, Blood Donor Recruiter. "But if she would have surgery, then she would benefit from the blood that's in the inventory."

Meanwhile, several memorial crosses and markers now sit at the scene of the crash. Deb Groff called the six motorcycle riders her "best friends" and spent time collecting some debris at the scene Thursday afternoon.

"Hang onto them," she said of the metal trinkets. "Probably put them into a scrapbook with the rest of their pictures and stuff."

Groff said she and the crash victims "did everything together" and called their loss "a nightmare."

"This is going to be the worst thing for her (Skowood) to wake up and find out that the three closest people to her are gone," Groff said. "I can't even imagine how she'll handle this. It's going to be tragic."

The Lancaster County District Attorney said investigators are still trying to determine what caused the crash. He said that investigation could take weeks.

"It's a little difficult right now just because you're seeing an empty desk and an empty chair where she sits every day," Evans said of Skowood. "We're struggling with that but we know she'll be back."