Tim Nichols took in the world with a sense of the wonder of it all…

That sense of wonder extended to the medical care he received at Mayo Clinic for a heart condition that, at a different time and in a different place, would have ended his life within a year of his diagnosis. In 1988, Nichols became the first recipient of a heart transplant under a revived Mayo program, becoming a medical celebrity and permanently linking his name to Mayo.

"He was a trailblazer," said Dr. Brooks Edwards, director of Mayo's transplant center and a doctor who joined the hospital's transplant team shortly after Nichols received his transplant. "He was quite a guy. He has left a legacy."

Post-Bulletin, by Matt Stolle, 1/31/2010

Tags: Cardiology, heart transplant