While she was alive, Krysta Hankee never met a stranger; people of all ages were drawn to the exuberant, beautiful, athletic and intelligent woman, and she to them.

It's fitting, although heartbreakingly so, that five strangers walk the earth because their bodies were repaired by Krysta's organs, which were donated to them after she died.Krysta's parents, Bill and Christine Hankee of Germansville, and transplant recipient Kevin Geklinksy of Easton, spoke to students and faculty at Marian High School Thursday morning.Susan Koomar, community relations coordinator for the Gift of Life Donor Program, organized the presentation along with Marian Director of Development Susie Gerhard and Principal Sister Bernard Agnes. Koomar is a Marian graduate."Everybody in this room has the potential to save lives," Koomar said. "On your driver's license there's a place for organ donor designation - we're hoping you say yes."The special assembly was part of events to celebrate Catholic Schools Week. Koomer said that the Vatican has issued statements in support of organ donation as "an act of charity and love."The Hankees and Geklinsky know all about that.Kevin's storyGeklinsky was 12 when he and his family learned he had a liver disease which was not treatable."I went for yearly checkups, played baseball and football in high school, went to college, and each year at the checkup I'd hear that I was still OK," he said. "Then one day I had just gotten into my car and I had an eyelash in my eye. Looking in the rear-view mirror to get it out, I noticed that my eye looked yellow, as yellow as this gym floor."For months Geklinksy hovered, very ill, hoping a transplant would become available in time. The first two that became available weren't a good match for him."It's a line between being sick enough to get a transplant and healthy enough for surgery," he said. "I was in a hospital bed for about a year, and the hardest thing was watching my family, who were basically watching me die."Geklinsky was 23 when he got a liver transplant from a 19-year-old woman."I had maybe another week or two and I would have been deactivated (because he was too ill) from the transplant list," he said. "There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about the gift she gave me."Transplant recipients and donors may write to each other.The Gift of Life has a branch called Family Support Services, which manages the communication between the two. Some donor families and recipients may eventually meet after a series of letters, but that's not always what happens.Krysta's storyKrysta Hankee, a 2003 graduate of Northwestern Lehigh High School, attended American University for two years before transferring to Leonard Stern School of Business at NYU, graduating in 2007. Just a few days after graduating she was hired by Triangle Equities, in Whitestone, New York.On Sept. 19, 2007, her parents got the call every parent dreads. Krysta had collapsed while working out in a gym before work, and remained hospitalized. From the time she collapsed to the arrival of paramedics, she had been without oxygen for eight to 10 minutes."For five days we sat with her and waited," Christine Hankee said. "Then one of the doctors told us that he thought Krysta had passed away (during the night) and said "I think we're at the end here.'"The doctor asked if the Hankees had considered organ donation. They hadn't, but in looking through Krysta's personal effects saw her driver's license. It was marked "organ donor.""I wasn't surprised," Christine Hankee said. "It made our decision much easier."Krysta's lungs, pancreas, kidneys, corneas and two patches of skin were donated."It took two days to arrange the transplants, because she had a rare blood type," Bill Hankee said. "While we were sitting there in New York, a friend of ours said, 'You can't let it end like this.'"The Hankee's started the Krysta Hankee Memorial Fund, and a leadership award scholarship is awarded annually to a senior from Northwestern Lehigh High School and Lehigh Carbon Community College (www.Krystahankeememorialfund.org).They also became involved with the Gift of Life Donor Program, helping spread the message about the need for organ donation.They made arrangements in 2010 to attend the Transplant Games of America, a sports competition for transplant recipients, in Wisconsin. In the meantime, they'd written letters to Krysta's organ recipients and some had responded, but there had been no direct contact."We'd already decided to go to the Transplant Games when four months later, we heard from one of the recipients who had gotten her lungs," Christine Hankee said.The woman had hesitated to respond at first because, as she wrote, "my best day was the worst day of your life."At the games, the Hankees got to cheer on the woman as she completed the 5K event. They continue volunteering for the Gift of Life."We're finding as time goes on, that it has helped us to help others," Bill Hanke said. "When you have a time of trouble, think of a way to help others."