Medical students honor cadavers they worked on

Tony Montemurro never met Ricky but knows he was 6 feet tall, weighed 180 pounds and had a heart double the normal size. When Montemurro touched Ricky's heart, he felt his own touched as well.

"He gave me the power to close my eyes and envision the most beautiful thing on Earth, the human body," Montemurro said.

On Tuesday, Montemurro and about 70 of his colleagues at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in North Chicago honored Ricky and the hundreds of other cadavers donated to the school.

"I have seen a brachial plexus, dissected a lung, held Ricky's heart in my hands," Montemurro said. "Through my first year of medical school, he has been a constant who undoubtedly changed my life for the better."

The student-organized memorial service has been held on and off at the college for the past 10 years. Students read poems, told stories about their experience with the cadavers and lit candles for the dead.

Dr. Bruce Manion, director of the Gross Anatomy Lab, said Rosalind Franklin uses about 85 to 90 cadavers a year, most of which are obtained from the University of Kansas medical school.

"It is important for the students to be appreciative of the gift they have gotten," Manion said. "Not only to dissect, but to have a body to dissect. It is quite a privilege."

Susan Tucker, organizer of this year's event, said she was inspired by Mary Roach's book, "Stiff -- The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers."

"Before reading the book, it never struck me that a memorial service should be held for the cadavers," Tucker said. "They give us such a great gift. I know I could never do it, so it makes me appreciate the gift even more."

Tucker's cadaver was Hildegard.

"I met her on a Monday," Tucker said. "I didn't know how I'd feel when we pulled the drape back and looked into her face for the first time. I know I will carry her story with me in my professional life. I will carry with me the stories told by all of the bodies that we worked with in the lab."

Student Nsisong Ikpa said he cannot fathom why any man or woman would give so much of themselves.

"Such a profound love of others must exist that these men and women and their families would make such an extraordinary gift of themselves in order that my colleagues and I may learn," Ikpa said.