Chaska man's legacy continues through organ donation, foundation: "He keeps getting to live on"

CHASKA, Minn. — In 24 years, Tom Costello made more of an impact than most do in a lifetime.

Tom was an active, lifelong learner who believed in random acts of kindness. His life was tragically cut short two years ago—but his memory lives on in more ways than one, thanks to his family.

"It's hard to put into words, he truly just was larger than life," Tom's younger sister Sarah said. "Obviously I'm a little biased, but the greatest person. The greatest brother."

As a teenager, Tom was diagnosed with stage 3B Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

"You get a diagnosis like that, and it really rocks your world," Tom's older sister Ashley said. "I think his mindset just shifted to, 'OK, well, I have no control over what this is going to lead to, but I do have control over how many days of school I'm going to go to, what I'm going to focus on, what my attitude is going to be like.' It just became a good way to live. Try and be Tommy strong."

WCCO first shared that mantra of "Tommy Strong" back in 2013 when we highlighted Tom as a Make-A-Wish survivor.

"You stop and look at things in perspective because you know, before you'd be like, 'Oh god, I'm breaking out,' or 'I got a bad grade on the test,' or whatever it is that you think, 'Oh, this is the end of the world.' And, it's like – it's really not," Tom told WCCO in Oct. of 2013, a month into remission.

READ MORE: After three transplants, Minneapolis mom is encouraging more people to register as organ donors

Tom carried that perspective throughout his entire young life.

"Once he got cancer and recovered, that's when he really went full throttle on everything," Tom's dad Pat said. "New lease on life."

From his time at Chaska High School to earning a triple major at UW Madison. Tom even shared his wisdom as a TedX speaker.

"Rather than fret about the things you will never be able to control, refocus your efforts on the things you can do and maximizing those," Tom told a crowd in 2018.

After graduating from UW, Tom landed his dream job as an investment banker in New York City. Along the way, he mentored and paid kindness forward any chance he could.

"He was really determined to help the next person in line and spent a lot of time," Tom's mom Beth said. "And we knew some of those things, but I don't think we knew the extent of it until he passed away and all these people came from New York."

Tom was known as a best friend to all with a zest for life.

"He just started living every single day with no regrets," Sarah said. "Lived every single day with passion. And he would say that all the time, he would write that in his journals and he took the most of every single day."

In June of 2021 Tom's life tragically ended after a freak water-skiing accident at the family cabin.

"Just had a minor wipeout and never woke up," Ashley said. "It will never make sense."

Tom was airlifted to Minneapolis but suffered a traumatic brain injury that couldn't be fixed.

"He had been really upfront with all of us that if something ever happened that he wanted to donate his organs," Beth said.

From his heart to his liver, Tom's organs impacted 75 lives.

READ MORE: New Minnesota law boosts economic protections for living organ donors

"We didn't get our miracle, but we gave several families their miracle," Beth said.

Tom's gift of life isn't the only way his legacy lives on.

"We knew that he was going to have an incredible impact on this world if he had the chance to be here for a longer amount of time, and we wanted to make sure that that actually came to fruition," Ashley said.

They're keeping Tom's memory alive with a nonprofit in his name. The Thomas A. Costello Legacy Foundation provides scholarships to students that embody his character. It gives back to organizations closest to Tom's heart like Make-A-Wish and LifeSource.

"I think it also made a lot of people stop and just not get caught up in all the little things because what happened to us could have happened to anybody's family," Beth said. "I tell myself every day: this is what we can control."

To this day, the foundation has given out $28,000 in scholarships.

"He keeps getting to live on even though he's not here physically," Sarah said. "Parts of him are still here."

The family hopes his story encourages others to live like Tom did – to live Tommy strong.

"You don't know when your last day is going to be," Ashley said. "How you live your life matters. How you live it today. Don't wait to take the trip, don't wait to start treating people with kindness, don't wait. Tell people that you love them. Live your life with passion like he did. Life is very fragile. Love your people, love them hard and live your life Tommy strong."

The Thomas A. Costello Legacy Foundation is raising funds in Tom's honor in a golf tournament on June 19. People can still sign up to play until Wednesday.

Tom's impact is felt near and far. The company he worked at in New York, Rothschild & Co., named their main board room after Tom and introduces his mantra to new employees as their work culture. The road behind Chaska High School is named Tom Costello Way.

UW Madison created the Thomas A. Costello Memorial Alumni Award that's offered to UW alumnus that commemorates Tom's legacy and is awarded to an alumnus/a who "selflessly gives back to others through mentorship, volunteerism, and community engagement."