Face Donor's Wife Has No Regrets

The wife of a Massachusetts man whose tissue was donated for the nation's second face transplant said her husband told her before heart transplant surgery that he wanted to donate his organs if he didn't survive the operation.

Susan Whitman told The Boston Globe for a story in Wednesday's editions that she was surprised, however, when organ bank officials asked if she would approve of the donation of Joseph Helfgot's face.

Whitman and their four children held a conference call and quickly agreed it was the "right thing to do."

"You wish, on so many levels, that you don't have to make this decision, but how can you deny someone else a chance at [a normal] life?" Whitman told the Globe.

Helfgot, 60, learned to appreciate the value of life from his Holocaust survivor parents, friends and family said.

"It's easy to sign up and say you are an organ donor," Whitman said. "It's another to have your family understand and facilitate that. It's painful and it takes strength and a will to do it."

Helfgot never woke up after his April 5 heart transplant and the face operation took place on April 9, the day before Helfgot's funeral.

"He would be happy to know he went out with a bang," she said.

The recipient's identity hasn't been released, but Whitman said she would one day like to meet the man who received her husband's nose, roof of his mouth, upper lip, facial skin, muscles and nerves. Doctors have said the recipient will not look like the donor because his bone structure is different.

Helfgot grew up in New York City's Lower East Side and went on to become a sociology professor at Boston University by age 23. He later founded MarketCast, one of Hollywood's leading research companies.

Whitman said she went public with her story because she hoped to inspire others to become organ donors.