Tim Heffernan’s mother, Linda Heffernan, passed away suddenly in February 1999 from a pulmonary embolism, five days after undergoing elective surgery. Donating Linda’s organs and tissues was an easy decision for Tim and his family to make, as it was a decision that had already been made by his mother long before. Tim now works for the company that received her donated tissue and ensured her gift would benefit as many as possible.

Tim's Story

Tim Heffernan’s mother, Linda Heffernan, passed away suddenly in February 1999 from a pulmonary embolism, five days after undergoing elective surgery. She was only 50 years old. She was a daughter, sister, wife, mother, aunt, grandmother and friend to many.

At the hospital, the family was approached about donating Linda’s organs and tissues. “It’s not really something you want to think about, but it’s a decision that needs to be made,” said Tim. “It was an easy decision for our family to make. Actually, it was a decision that had already been made by my mother long before she passed away.”

Organ and tissue donation and it had been a topic of family discussion on several occasions prior to his mother’s passing. During these discussions, Tim remembers his mother saying, “Let them have what they want, I don’t need it anymore.” So Linda’s family consented to donate her tissue with the hope that their decision would someday benefit another individual.

Sometime after Linda’s passing, the Heffernan family received a letter from Regeneration Technologies (now RTI Biologics), thanking them for Linda’s donation. Tim said he never would have guessed that six years later, he would be working as a packaging engineer for the same company that received his mother’s donated tissue.

“I’ve worked for RTI now for four years, and I’ve come to realize that my mother’s donated tissue didn’t just impact the life of a single individual, but in all probability, her donation impacted the lives of several dozen individuals,” Tim said. “There are so many ways that donated tissue is used to help others.”

“In the end, my mother’s gift had a positive impact on other people’s lives due in large to the hard work of my fellow RTI employees. I personally have the privilege to work side-by-side with incredible people there on a daily basis in all different departments, all of them working towards a common goal – to improve the quality of life for people, people they don’t even know. My mother’s donation could not have gone to a better place.”