Recipient Reported Holding Own

The donation of his heart to Philip T. Barnum, 49, of Kalamazoo "was something he could contnbute to society," the donor's brother Charles Opdenhoff of Hadley, Mich., said yesterday. Barnum received the heart of Herman Opdenhoff, 37, of Pontiac in an operation that lasted five hours and 28 minutes Thursday night and early Friday at University Hospital. In the meantime, the recipiënt, a Kalamazoo father of four, was reported holding his own. In a final report for the day at 8:45 p.m. yesterday, U-M doctors said Barnum's "condition has remained stable all day and his new heart is functioning well. His pulse, blood pressure and other body functions are normal. There has been no sign of rejection." Mrs. Barnum, who visited her husband yesterday, said "he was cheerful" and he "looked pretty good," a hospital spokesman reported. The Barnum family is slated to take part in a press interview at 3:30 p.m. today at the hospital. Opdenhoff had been serving a robbery sentence at Southern Michigan Prison in Jaekson when he was transferred to University Hospital about a month ago after suffering a stroke. His brother, Charles, 30, a foreman at a Pontiac Motors División plant, and a sister, Mrs. Arthur (Donna) Allen, 43, of Waterford, were inteviewed by reporters yesterday afternoon at the hospital. Asked if he meant by his statement on contributing to society, paying a debt to society, the donor's brother said "his debt was not that big." "My brother was the kind of man who would give you the shirt off his back. It is only natural that he would want to dónate his heart." The donor's sister, asked if she had thought about the moral implications prior to the heart transfer, said: "I went into the chapel and prayed for guidance, and suddenly a calmness enveloped me and I knew it was the right thing to do." In answer to the question of how she feit toward the recipiënt, Mrs. Allen said: "I feel that maybe now he is just part of our family. He may not like me saying this, but that is how I feel." i She said she had not met Barnum's famüy and did not want to disturb them at this time, but would like to meet them later. "This hospital has been wonderful," she said. Describing the days before! her brother's death, Mrs. Allen said: "Up until last Sunday I had some hope that he might improve. "On Tuesday he wasn't responding to treatment. I stayed with him all day but he didn't know me. Wednesday he didn't respond and I had given up hope." Asked "do you feel proud of your brother" for donating his heart, she said, "I feel proud he got to do what he wanted to do. Morally I thought it was the right thing."