Organ donor Park Jong-hee. [Korea Organ and Tissue Agency]
Organ donor Park Jong-hee. [Korea Organ and Tissue Agency]

A man in his 40s who raised his daughter alone after losing his wife gave six people a second chance at life through brain-death organ donation before he died.

Park Jong-hee, 43, donated his heart, liver, both kidneys and both corneas at Chosun University Hospital on Sept. 4, the Korea Organ and Tissue Agency said Thursday.

Park spoke with his mother by phone on the evening of Aug. 23, a routine call like any other. The following morning, she could not reach him, and he was found collapsed at his home and rushed to hospital. He underwent surgery for a cerebral hemorrhage but eventually fell into brain death. His heart, liver, kidneys and corneas went to six recipients.

According to his family, Park had long viewed organ donation positively. About a decade ago, when his mother expressed her wish to donate her body after death, Park supported the idea, saying it was a good deed that helped many people. The family consented to the donation in recognition of his lifelong belief in the value of sharing.

An only child, Park was described as mature and responsible from an early age, never once causing his mother worry. He would wait up for her on late nights, prepare his own meals and help with household chores. After more than 20 years working in sales following graduation, he raised his only daughter on his own after his wife died.

Park would approach elderly people in need without hesitation and treated colleagues and customers at work like family. Those who knew him said he would repay a single act of kindness three or four times over.

His mother, No Pan-im, said that while she held her son's phone during his hospitalization, calls poured in from worried acquaintances. Many friends and coworkers also came to pay their respects at the funeral. "Seeing all of that, I thought, 'He lived a short life, but he lived it well,' and that was a great comfort to me," she said.

In a final message to her son, she said: "Jong-hee, I am heartbroken that you left so soon, but thinking that you did something good before you went makes your mother happy. Don't worry about me — I hope you keep doing good things wherever you are, just as you did here."

No also had words for those who received her son's organs. "I hope you live long and healthy lives — including the years my son never got to live," she said.

Lee Sam-yeol, head of the Korea Organ and Tissue Agency, said: "A son who once supported his mother's wish to donate has now fulfilled that wish himself. We pay our deepest respects to the family for making such a courageous decision in the midst of grief, and we hope that this meaningful act of giving, during Life Sharing Week, will resonate with many more people."


min3654@heraldcorp.com