In loving memory: (From left) Melvin and Tan’s siblings paying their respects to Tan. The family decided to donate Tan’s organs to the Seremban Hospital after he become brain dead following a heart attack.
PETALING JAYA: Someone’s loss was a beacon of hope for others after a man in Johor decided to honour his father’s legacy by consenting to the donation of the latter’s organs.
Melvin Tan, 23, the only son of Tan Chee Hoon, made the heartbreaking decision to donate his father’s organs after a sudden tragic heart attack left the latter brain dead.
“My father had not pledged to donate his organs and neither of us ever discussed the topic.
“However, I believe he would have agreed to donate his organs to others because he was a charitable person,” said Melvin, as reported in MySinchew, the English version of Sin Chew Daily.
The daily reported that Tan, 59, had travelled from Aljunied in Singapore to Seremban, Negri Sembilan, to visit an old friend on June 10.
He suffered an acute myocardial infarction while having dinner with his friend.
He was then rushed to Seremban Hospital, where he was pronounced brain dead on June 13 after a scan.
Melvin and the rest of Tan’s family had been notified of his hospitalisation on June 11.
The family made the joint decision to donate Tan’s corneas, kidneys and liver after being approached by the doctor in charge on June 13.
“The doctors were surprised that we were able to come together to make such a quick decision to donate my father’s organs despite our grief,” said Melvin.
Their decision meant that Tan would become the seventh organ donor for the Seremban Hospital this year, which would offer other patients a new lease of life.
The surgery to remove and transplant Tan’s organs was then carried out at midnight on June 14, after a second scan carried out on June 13 confirmed Tan’s brain-dead status.
Tan’s remains were then cremated on June 17.
Melvin said his late father had spent many years selling durian in Muar before moving his business to Singapore over a year ago.
