S'pore man, 27, saved 3 lives by donating organs, remembered 1 year after passing

One year after the sudden passing of her beloved only son, a mother in Singapore was surprised to receive a call from the National Organ Transplant Unit.

They wanted to send some tokens of appreciation on behalf of the recipients of her son's organ donation, Queenie Tan told Mothership on Aug. 14.

Her son, 27-year-old Nathaniel Zachariah Tan, passed away on Aug. 12, 2025, from a rare brain condition.

In a final act of selflessness, he donated his kidneys, liver and iliac arteries.

A call one year on

The call from the National Organ Transplant Unit came as a pleasant surprise for Tan, who said the past year had been a difficult period of grief for her.

"I thought they were so kind and so good to want to send their appreciation," she told Mothership.

Tan said the organisation reached out about a week before the anniversary of Nathaniel's passing.

Among the gifts was a thank-you note, which specified the patients who were saved by Nathaniel's donation.

Nathaniel's liver went to a 64-year-old man who was diagnosed with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Meanwhile, each of his kidneys went to a 52-year-old woman and a 35-year-old woman, who were both diagnosed with chronic glomerulonephritis.

Additionally, his donated iliac vessels are stored in the bank and are said to help liver patients during their surgeries.

The recipients can now spend more quality time with their loved ones because of Nathaniel's donation, the organisation wrote.

They also sent Tan a medallion, a jar of origami stars folded by secondary school students across Singapore, and a certificate of appreciation to honour Nathaniel's selfless act.

Tokens of appreciation

Tan shared that this was her first time hearing about those who benefited from her son's donation.

"At that time, I did think about who would end up getting his organs, but after that, I think there is no need to think and worry because he is definitely saving lives. Someone will have a second chance, but we just did not know who it was," she said.

Reading the note and learning more about the impact her son made led her to realise that "a part of him still lives on", she said.

"I was surprised that one year later, there were still people thinking of him," she shared.

After receiving the tokens, Tan headed down to Nathaniel's final resting place at Woodlands Memorial on Aug. 10 to leave them there.

She also took out 27 stars from the jar to signify his age at the time of his passing.

A year of grief and counting

On Nathaniel's decision to donate his organs, Tan said it was a wish that his fiancée, Cheryl Lim, had relayed to her.

It did not come as a surprise to Tan, as she knew her son was a good-natured, loving man who always helped those in need.

A year on, Tan still sees her son everywhere she goes.

She would be reminded of Nathaniel whenever she saw students wearing his alma mater's uniform or took part in church activities.

She felt his absence during family dinners though.

The letter and tokens of appreciation from those who carried a part of Nathaniel were a timely reminder of the impact he had made.

"The next thing I have to do is to live every day meaningfully, until the day I meet him," she said.