MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The family of Nolan Burch, a WVU student who died from alcohol poisoning during fraternity hazing in November 2014, is back on campus five years after his death with a message.
Kim and T.J. Burch, parents of Nolan, are showing a documentary video on Wednesday evening at the Mountainlair, geared towards educating students on the dangers of hazing, to be aware of surroundings and to help when something is wrong.
Burch, then 18 of Buffalo, N.Y., died after he was found to be unresponsive following a fraternity event at the former Kappa Sigma house in Morgantown. Burch’s blood-alcohol level was 0.493 during the hazing incident.
His parents appeared on Tuesday’s MetroNews ‘Talkline’ and said the documentary is not meant to lecture students, but to make them learn. It’s headlined “Breathe, Nolan, Breathe.”
“It’s really to show them here is what can happen and then here is what you do so it doesn’t happen,” T.J. Burch said. “Be the person who stands up, be the one who makes the change. That’s how all of this can be changed. I think there is a generation coming that I know can do it because I think they are sick of it as well.”
Kim said the video, as part of a presentation by the NMB Foundation created for Nolan, starts by him getting CPR. The presentation will begin at Gluck Theatre at 5:30 p.m., followed by a panel discussion.
“It’s pretty graphic but I think that people need to see that. It then moves into education, what you can do and what not to do,” she said.
T.J. said that his son fell outside of the frat house and then was carried inside and laid down that night. He said around 40 minutes later, someone noticed his fingers and face were blue and that’s when they called for help. T.J. said CPR was done on the scene but it was ultimately too late to save his life because no one acted quicker.
He admitted that there was some personal responsibility in Nolan’s death.
“Nolan had the education, we had those talks,” he said. “Specifically, here is one thing that you do not do. If somebody gives you a bottle of alcohol, there is no way you chug it, you can’t handle it, you can’t do it.”
Kim and TJ Burch join @HoppyKercheval ON SET to talk about their son, Nolan Burch, who passed away after a hazing incident at WVU. WATCH: https://t.co/wkudfIAoe1 pic.twitter.com/YeDgocjY5y
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) November 12, 2019
According to the parents, because CPR was performed that night that his liver, kidneys and lungs were saved and later donated. Those recipients include a current WVU student, a pilot and a person living in Boston, which was one of Nolan’s favorite places, according to Kim.
The foundation was started in his name by the family called the NMB Foundation for his initials. NMB also stands for “No More Bullying” and “No More Bystanders,” which was set up to education students to do the right thing, stand up and be that one person to make a difference in a bad situation. The foundation schedules presentations around the country, like the one being done at WVU on Wednesday.
VIEW: Nolan’s story on NMB Foundation
Kim Burch said it was not easy to come back to WVU but when asked by ‘Talkline’ host Hoppy Kercheval how she could, she responded that it was home to her son.
“Nolan told me the last time I saw him he was home. To know that he felt that great about being here and he felt that good that he felt West Virginia was his home, how could I not?”