A Widower’s Words

After working for more than three decades for the world’s largest theme park company, Todd Heiden makes clear that, “Disney was my identity. I didn’t have to explain what it was or who I was working for. I don’t know what my identity is as a widower. I have a need to qualify myself.”

“As a widower you feel socially awkward because your story doesn’t fit into the narrative. It’s a downer.”

It’s been nearly 13 years since his wife, Joan, passed away shortly after giving birth to their second child, and today he is working to restart his career and personal life. Todd says he needs to find a new purpose now that his children are doing well in school and moving ahead. He just doesn’t know quite yet what that is. He does know that after a decade or so of publicly sharing his story of loss on behalf of the Pre-Eclampsia Foundation, which was founded by a friend who survived pre-eclampsia and HELLP during her own pregnancy, he now wants to focus on other things.

It’s time to become engaged in something more positive. He relocated his family to his native Wisconsin and as a self-described “introvert,” he is working to push himself to build a new life and new relationships. He aspires to be more like his outgoing dad, “a gregarious networking guy.”

“Once I get introduced and into something, I’m fine. I’m not the person you’d put in a party by himself and expect to see him walking around introducing himself.” But he’s not letting that stop him rebuild a future. “I’m having to start from scratch.”