By Adriana M. Chavez / El Paso Times

Allen, 35, was suffering from cardiomyopathy, or an enlarged heart, and was in a Dallas area hospital awaiting surgery for a pacemaker when doctors told her she wasn't going to get one.

"I wanted to know why I wasn't going to get my pacemaker, and they told me I was getting a new heart," said Allen, who was first told she would need a heart transplant in 2000.

Allen later learned her new heart had come from 16-year-old Eddy Vargas, an El Paso High School basketball standout who suffered a fatal head injury when he was beaten by gang members in Juarez.

Four of Vargas' organs -- including his heart, liver and two kidneys -- were donated to four Texans, including Jorge Medrano of Central El Paso.

On Saturday afternoon, Allen and Vargas' family met for the first time at El Paso International Airport, a meeting filled with tears and emotion. The two families will also take part in Southwest Transplant Alliance's annual Donor Family Recognition Ceremony at 2 p.m. today at the Vista Hills Country Club.

Before Eddy Vargas' parents, Cristina and Juan Manuel Vargas, and his sister, Brenda, met Allen and her daughter, Angelica, they were nervous but anxious to meet the Allens.

"I'm so happy that in the middle of something so ugly came something so beautiful that has helped another person," Cristina Vargas said.

The Vargas family said Eddy Vargas always liked to help others and would have been happy to see that his organs have saved the lives of four people. It was his wish to become an organ donor.

"I think he's happy right now to see us all here," Cristina Vargas said.

As soon as Allen and her daughter came down the airport escalators, the Vargas family anxiously hugged one another, then walked up to Allen, who was clutching a bouquet for the family.

Cristina Vargas and Allen immediately embraced and broke into tears in front of dozens of airport visitors who had gathered around them, many of them wiping tears from their eyes.

Because Cristina and Juan Manuel Vargas don't speak English and Allen doesn't speak Spanish, Allen said she hoped her gratefulness showed in her emotion.

"From the bottom of my heart, I love you," she told the Vargases.

After a few minutes of embracing and consoling each other, the Vargas family gave Allen a gift -- a framed picture of Eddy Vargas and a T-shirt printed with his name, photo and the words "In Loving Memory."

"I didn't know what to say, but it all came out," Allen said.

Representatives from the Southwest Transplant Alliance said they were glad the two families were able to come together.

"Eddy had a heart of gold," said Victoria Armendariz, regional client services coordinator for Southwest Transplant Alliance, who helped arrange the meeting.

Southwest Airlines provided Allen and her daughter with the plane tickets to El Paso.

"We consider a family like the Vargases to be heroes. They were willing to turn the situation around and give to others. The world should take a lesson," Armendariz said.

Allen said that her body initially started to reject the heart but that after treatment, Eddy Vargas' donated heart beats as it should.

She said that she learned about what happened to Eddy in an e-mail sent to her by a transplant association representative and that she cried for hours.

"It was tragic what happened. I cried for a long time," Allen said as her soft voice broke with emotion and tears filled her eyes. "I would tell him thank you and that I'm sorry for what happened to you, and I would want him to know that his heart is inside of me and I'm going to save our heart for as long as I can."

On July 20, 2005, as an El Paso area family was grieving the loss of their loved one, LaShundra Allen was given new hope more than 600 miles away in Dallas.