When Heather Hennan first got the call with news that her brother, Kip McLeod had been rushed to Abbotsford Regional Hospital, she was hopeful he would be ok. Kip had suddenly collapsed at home. His 16-year-old son, Tristan, was home at the time and performed CPR until the paramedics arrived, but Kip had suffered a cardiac arrest. When the ICU called the next morning to say the family needed to make some decisions because Kip was unable to communicate, Heather dropped everything and drove straight from her home in Williams Lake to Abbotsford.
“It was awful seeing him like that. He was my big brother and he always knew what to do,” remarks Heather. “My niece is an ICU nurse there and I just looked at her and asked her to tell me the truth. She looked at me and shook her head. He had been without oxygen for too long. I knew there was no chance of recovery.”
What happened next was actually part of an incredible story almost ten years in the making.
In early 2016, Kip and Heather’s mom Kathleen Lafleur had already been in and out of the hospital for years. Her lungs would fill with fluid because her heart was failing and she wouldn’t be able to breathe, requiring an emergency trip to the hospital. This happened several times over the months, without warning. On many occasions her husband Andre would just get her in the car and race her there himself from their home in Mission.
Finally, Andre insisted his wife needed to see the heart transplant team at St. Paul’s Hospital. When they got there, the discussions became serious very quickly.
“The team at St. Paul’s wanted to operate on Kathleen right away to put her on a mechanical heart pump, saying if they didn’t do that, she’d be gone in 10 days,” comments Andre. “To get the heart pump, Kathleen had to go on the transplant list first.”
Heather and Andre went down to the hospital cafeteria for a quick break after that heavy conversation with Kathleen’s care team. Then the phone rang. It was the doctor in Kathleen’s hospital room upstairs, telling them a heart had become available and it was perfect for her. Kathleen had been on the waitlist for less than an hour.
Tristan, Kip, their mom Kathleen and Heather
“After her heart transplant, she did everything. She could go for walks, garden, meet her girlfriends for lunch, even travel to Williams Lake to visit Heather and her family,” according to Andre.
On the day their mom’s life was saved by an organ donor, Heather, Kip and the entire family became instant advocates for organ donation, telling everyone they knew to register their decision. Every year on Kathleen’s heart transplant anniversary, they would celebrate, and at the same time thank and grieve for their donor and donor family.
Unfortunately, eight years after Kathleen’s gift of life, she was diagnosed with cancer. She passed away in May 2024.
Andre tears up as he shares his feelings about their donor family, “Kathleen wishes she would have been able to meet them, but it never happened. I am so grateful that I got to have her for another eight years. She was a special lady.”
As a man of few words, Heather says she didn’t realize how deeply her brother was impacted by their mom’s heart transplant until Kathleen’s funeral. Kip shared how upset he was that his mom wouldn’t be there to see her grandson graduate from high school, and he also grieved for the donor family.
Heather recalls, “My brother said to me that day, ‘We didn’t just lose mom today, we lost another person as well,’ and he was talking about the donor. I know it hit him really hard.”
February 2025, less than a year later, Heather was in the ICU at Kip’s bedside. Once doctors determined there was no chance of recovery, Heather said they knew exactly what he would have wanted. Kip was a registered organ donor.
“I told the nurses to make sure they did what they had to do, we didn’t want to miss the window for Kip to be able to be an organ donor,” Heather emphasizes. “There was no question. This is what was going to happen.”
Saying good-bye to the big brother who had protected her as ‘his’ baby was heartbreaking. He always watched over Heather when they were growing up, and she could count on him to know what to do in every situation.
Kip saved three people’s lives. He was 56 years old.
Tristan is now living with Heather in Williams Lake and will graduate from high school this year. Heather describes her nephew and brother as ‘two peas in a pod’ who had many great adventures together. The loss of two family members in such a short time has been hard for all of them.
(Pictured left: Heather and Kip at Heather's wedding)
Heather got a memorial tattoo in honour of her mom. It includes the quote, “In the rhythm of the needle, there is music for the soul,” because her mom taught her how to sew and they would spend hours together sewing. When Kip died, she added his fingerprints in the shape of a heart and his heart rhythm.
Few families have been on both sides of organ donation and transplantation. It’s an emotional rollercoaster, as Heather and Andre describe it, and difficult to explain to others. But they want people to know that both giving and receiving the gift of life are a blessing.
Andre says, “We were dealing with our loss, but just knowing other people were going to be receiving the same thing we received when Kathy got her heart transplant helped a lot.”
“Kip would be proud, I know he would. It makes me proud that he could help three other families. My wish for them is they have eight years, or more, with their person and get to enjoy them,” Heather comments. “It’s a gift that can’t be bought, and to be able to help somebody in that way is amazing.”
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Most people support organ donation, but many forget to register. Take two minutes now to make it official. Visit registeryourdecision.ca. All you need is your Personal Health Number. Aren’t sure if you are already registered? Visit
checkyourdecision.ca and find out.
As of December 31, 2025, there are 626 British Columbians waiting for their second chance at life.
