By DAVID FLICK / The Dallas Morning News

Friday, May 26, 2006

When Debra King met Michelle Mullins on Thursday, she lay her ear on Ms. Mullins' chest, and for the first time in 20 years, Ms. King heard her daughter's heart beat.

Standing in the crowded lobby of Dallas Love Field, the two women repeatedly embraced, cried and looked into each other's eyes.

"Thank you for not giving up looking for me," Ms. King told her.

In June 1986, after Ms. King's 14-year-old daughter, Radina Mundo, died suddenly of a brain aneurysm, the girl's heart was transplanted into Ms. Mullins, who was then a 20-year-old student in rural southwestern Virginia suffering from viral cardiomyopathy.

The procedure was successful, and Ms. Mullins is one of the longest-surviving heart-transplant recipients in the world.

For 20 years, Ms. Mullins had wanted to offer thanks, but hospital officials initially forbade her from seeking information about the donor's family.

Ms. King, in turn, was told her daughter's heart had been given to a 59-year-old man and was unaware of Ms. Mullins' existence.

Earlier this year, Ms. Mullins, who had heard that the donor had lived in Dallas, contacted The Dallas Morning News, which in turn called the Southwest Transplant Alliance. The alliance tracked down Ms. King, who now lives in Mesquite, in late March, and the two women connected by phone.

On Thursday, using tickets provided by Southwest Airlines and the alliance, Ms. Mullins - accompanied by her husband and stepson - was able to extend her gratitude in person to Ms. King.

She did so repeatedly, and often through tears.

"It's because of you and your daughter that I've had so many things," she told Ms. King. "I met my husband, and I got to see my nephew's wedding and so many things.

"I'm so glad I've been able to have all that in my life."

Ms. King gave Ms. Mullins a rabbit's foot that her daughter carried with her for good luck, and Ms. Mullins told the Mesquite woman that one of her father's nicknames for her was "Rabbit."

Ms. King also gave her a photo of Radina taken soon before the Gaston Middle School student's death.

"She's beautiful," Ms. Mullins said, cupping the photograph in her hand.

Then, addressing Ms. King, she said, "You're beautiful, and I'm so grateful."

Ms. Mullins and Ms. King said they look forward to talking privately, but they otherwise have no set plans. Ms. Mullins and her family said they intend to spend a few days in Dallas before heading to San Antonio, where she has relatives.

She also wants to visit the grave of her mother, who died when Ms. Mullins was 16.

Ms. Mullins said she wasn't nervous about the meeting until she was on the plane to Dallas after a stopover in Houston.

"It had been 20 years, and then I started thinking, 'In an hour, I'm going to meet her mother,' " she said.

"Twenty years is a long time to see a face. But it's worth it."