Transplant recipient dies

Friends remember Tom Healey as a fighter

By: Lacey Korevec
   Friends and family will remember 49-year-old South Main Street resident Tom Healey’s strength.
   "He was a fighter — that’s for sure," said North Main Street resident Anthony Nichols, who grew up with Mr. Healey. "I don’t know how else to describe it."
   After battling diabetes since he was 10, undergoing two kidney transplants and spending a number of years on dialysis, Mr. Healey, a lifelong Cranbury resident, died Sunday.
   He underwent a successful kidney transplant March 28 and was sent home from Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in New Brunswick on April 4, in time to celebrate his birthday at home with his family on April 6.
   Born in Rahway, Mr. Nichols was raised in Colonia before moving to Cranbury in 1967. Though he lived in Cranbury most of his life, Mr. Nichols said, Mr. Healey knew more community members in his younger days than he did before he died.
   But Mr. Healey, who was blind and lost eight toes because of complications with his diabetes, touched the hearts of every person he met, Mr. Nichols said.
   "This guy could by all means complain ‘poor me’ and never did," Mr. Nichols said. "He never complained once about his problems. He was just a good friend. I was just lucky to have him in my life and to have known him."
   An avid Nascar fan, Mr. Healey enjoyed going to races in Dover, Del., and at the Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa., with his friends.
   "We just treated him like he was one of the guys," he said. "We would bust his chops just as hard as we’d bust each others’, and I think he liked it. And you’ve got to keep your guard because he would always come back with one at you too."
   He also loved animals, Mr. Nichols said.
   But most of all, Mr. Healey loved life, no matter what health issues he was going through at any given time, said his sister, Liz Lewis, of Fieldsboro.
   "We’d talk about dying because you just have to, and it was just a matter of fact thing for him," she said. " ‘When it happens, it happens, but for right now we won’t really think about it because I’ve got something to do now.’ Or ‘I’ve got plans for something.’ He was always looking forward to tomorrow because tomorrow’s going to be a better day."
   After his recent kidney transplant, Mr. Healey hoped to spend three months recovering before undergoing eye surgery that would improve his vision. After, he wanted to have a pancreas transplant so that he would no longer be diabetic, Mr. Nichols said.
   "I don’t think a lot of people could have gone through what he went through and not give up," he said. "He was a fighter. And Tom, he had problems within the last year with his feet, so Tom was always like, ‘Let me take care of my feet, then I’ll deal with the next problem.’ I don’t think he got overwhelmed by his problems."
   Ms. Lewis said her brother was extremely family oriented and always kept the family closely knit.
   "He was the one who made sure everybody got information about one another and he was the one picking up the phone to let everybody know what was going on," she said. "He was a real good communicator in that way."
   Mr. Healy’s father, Robert W. Healey Sr., died in 1999. He is survived by his mother, Eleanor P. Healey of South Main Street; his brothers and sisters-in-law, Bob and Terri Healey, Ed Healey and Bill and Suzanne Healey; his sister and brother-in-law, Liz and Gary Lewis; his nieces and nephews, Ed Healey Jr., Charlene Scalesci and her husband, Peter, Kristin Healey, G.J. Lewis, and Craig Healey; as well as many close friends and relatives in the Cranbury area.
   Since Mr. Healey never had children of his own, Ms. Lewis said he dedicated a lot of his effort to spending time with his nieces and nephews.
   "They were part of him — Uncle Tom the spoiler," she laughed. "Christmas and birthdays came around and Uncle Tom spoiled them."
   Frank Casler, a Yardville resident who grew up with Mr. Healey in Cranbury, said everyone could always depend on Mr. Healey and he’ll miss going to races with him.
   "If you ever needed help, he was the person you’d like to talk to," he said. "He would ways give you a hand, regardless of how sick he was or how down he was."
   Mr. Nichols said that if Mr. Healey were alive today, he would remind his friends and family that life goes on.
   "I don’t think he would want anyone sitting around saying, ‘Poor Tom,’ " Mr. Nichols said. It’s human nature to be upset about him. He was a very close, personal friend, but I definitely think he’d want us to go on and do things we’d do without him."
   A funeral service will be held today, Friday, at 11 a.m. at the A.S. Cole Son & Co. Funeral Home, 22 N. Main St., Cranbury, N.J.
   A private cremation will follow.
   Memorial contributions may be made in Mr. Healey’s memory to the American Diabetes Association, PO Box 1131, Fairfax, Va. 22038-1131.