Jack Van Hecke was born on June 18, 2005, during his mother’s senior year at Augsburg College. Jennifer recalled that “the entire campus, from the president of the college, to my fellow classmates, all knew Jack and helped us graduate.”

At his young age, Jack quickly became a somewhat permanent fixture in the Augsburg biology department. Many asked Jennifer why she was so persistent in bringing Jack to all her classes. “Attending classes just simply became a detail that some simple time management would work out,” she noted. “When I think about Jack and the life we created together, one of the things I miss most is this remarkable relationship that I was able to have with him.”

Fifteen months after Jack was born, the life Jennifer and he knew together would change forever. “My baby boy with bright blue eyes, who never left my side, who was never away from me for more than a few hours, the single most important thing in my life, was taken from me,” Jennifer said. On an afternoon in September, Jack was killed in a motor vehicle accident.

“My decision to donate was not an easy one. When I was approached, my thoughts immediately raced to say ‘no,’ as I thought he had already been through enough and I didn’t want to leave his side any sooner than I had to,” she remembered. “As I sung his favorite lullaby and held his hand to my cheek, I rocked him into heaven. Sitting there, holding my son, my thoughts drifted to other mothers who might be wishing for the same thing I was, a miracle. Looking at my baby boy in my arms, rocking him back and forth, asking God to take care of him, I decided to let my son be the very thing that he was for me, but for other moms, a miracle. I never want another mother to feel the pain of my heart aches every second of every day.”

Within 12 hours, Jack’s heart was recovered and within a matter of weeks he was saving someone else. His aortic valve was transplanted into a little girl in Minnesota. “And just knowing that somewhere near to me is a part of Jack, keeps me breathing every day,” Jennifer acknowledged.

Jennifer’s life has changed dramatically in the three years since Jack’s passing. “Jack’s accident helps me live more meaningfully with this life experience. Every time I tell the story of Jack, I reshape my feelings, I act differently, and I remember all over again who I really am.”

And she thanks LifeSource, especially the tissue team, for changing her life, as she elected to make a career in organ and tissue donation. “I see Jack in every donor,” she admitted, “because to me each time I gown and glove, I get a chance to be with my son, I get a chance to honor this great gift that he shared. I consider it a privilege to perform this job as parents and other loved ones are entrusting me to provide hope to a situation that in any other way seems hopeless. With each case I go on, my intention is to care for each patient as I would have hoped Jack was cared for. And with each case I learn how to celebrate Jack’s life more and more.”