A Gift of Time

A Gift of Time: Former RCC Student to Donate Liver to Her Instructor

Sometimes the people who make the greatest difference in our lives are the ones we least expect.

For Tiffany Taylor, that person was once a student sitting in her classroom at Rappahannock Community College (RCC). Today, Meaghan Koehler is a registered nurse—and the former RCC nursing student is preparing to give her former instructor a remarkable gift: a portion of her liver and the possibility of more time with her family.

For Tiffany, teaching future nurses at RCC is a full-circle moment.

“It just means so much to me to give back to the students and to just help them grow, help them learn,” Tiffany said. But when the lesson ends, the RCC adjunct nursing instructor faces a challenge no syllabus could prepare her for.

In 2013, Tiffany was diagnosed with primary sclerosing cholangitis, a rare form of liver disease. She later was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. Over the years, her health continued to decline, bringing hospitalizations, procedures and medication changes. Eventually, Tiffany learned she needed a living liver donor.

“I felt like it would be a burden on someone, so I didn’t want to do that,” Tiffany said. “I just kept it to myself until finally it was hospitalization after hospitalization, procedures and medication changes, so finally I listened to the Lord, and he said it’s time.”

In March, Tiffany shared her story in hopes of finding a living donor. Her story eventually reached Meaghan.

“I was just scrolling on Facebook, and I went past her story that had been shared from a newspaper,” Meaghan said. “I read it, and she’s a mom, just like me. We’re the same age, she has a kid, you know, and I had to try.”

Meaghan knew Tiffany as an instructor, but their connection went beyond the classroom.

“When Meaghan was in the program, I subbed for her class that she had in lecture, so she was there. I would talk to her then and then I would see her at the hospital when I went with students,” Tiffany said.

Years after Meaghan sat in Tiffany’s nursing lecture, the former student found herself in a position to give her former instructor a second chance at a healthier future.

In April, unbeknownst to Tiffany, Meaghan applied to become Tiffany’s living liver donor. She turned out to be a perfect match.

“I am not doing this because I think I'm a hero,” she said. “I'm doing this because I'm a mom who looked at another mom and thought, if I have the ability to help give her more time with her children, how could I not try.”

For Meaghan, the gift she is giving Tiffany is ultimately a gift of time.  “It’s a chance, it’s time. It’s more Christmases, it’s more birthdays, it’s more arguments about what’s for dinner,” she said. “It’s just time and she gets more of that.”

When Meaghan told Tiffany she was a match, Tiffany was overwhelmed with relief and gratitude.  “When Meaghan told me, I was like, oh Lord, you don’t know how relieving that was,” Tiffany said.

On Thursday, October 8, the two nurses are scheduled to undergo surgery at UVA Health in Charlottesville. Meaghan will donate a portion of her liver to Tiffany, beginning a new chapter for both women.

Tiffany is a wife, mother and daughter, with a husband of 11 years, DJ, a son, Liam, and a bonus daughter, Nyah. For her, the transplant represents the possibility of more time with the people she loves—and more of the everyday moments that make up a life.

Both women are expected to be out of work for at least six weeks, potentially longer depending on their recoveries. Their families will also face travel, medical and household expenses as they navigate the weeks following surgery.

A fundraiser organized by Ellen Koehler, Meaghan’s mother-in-law and Dean of RCC’s Health Sciences program, is helping support both families during that time.

But the story is about more than the financial challenges of recovery. It is about two nurses, two families and a connection that began in an RCC classroom and came full circle years later.

For Tiffany and Meaghan, their shared nursing journey has taken them somewhere neither could have anticipated: from instructor and student to donor and recipient.

And their story carries a message Meaghan hopes others will remember. “You never know who is going to need something, whether it be blood or an organ, or anything,” she said. “You have the opportunity to make a huge impact in somebody’s life.”

For Tiffany, the gift from her former student may mean something as simple—and as profound—as more time.

More Christmases. More birthdays. More family dinners. More life.