Southwest Transplant Alliance

Texas has a new registry aimed at making decisions about organ donation easier for families after a loved one has died. The registry allows the Southwest Transplant Alliance to print forms showing that someone is officially a donor if he or she has registered. The process takes only a few minutes. To register, visit www.donatelifetexas.org. The site is also available in Spanish at www.donevidatexas.org.

Elvira Gutierrez had never met Lorenzo Gipson before Friday, but she immediately recognized the heart that beat inside him, and she hugged him close to her.

The heart once belonged to her son, Joel Gutierrez. When he died in a shooting April 22, 2007, his family decided during their own grief to share his organs to help others live.

The two families have shared a bond created by Joel's heart for the past year, and they finally met Friday.

"It felt like I had my son close to me today," Elvira Gutierrez said. Hearing his heart beating in Gipson's chest brought back a wave of memories of her son's short life. It reminded her of hearing Joel's heartbeat when she was pregnant with him.

Gipson let Elvira and her husband, Jose Gutierrez, use a stethoscope to listen to his heartbeat. Elvira asked if she could hug him, and when she did, she held on for a long time, and her tears weren't the only ones flowing.

The Gutierrez family learned just this week that they had the chance to meet the man who has their son's heart. Happiness, nervousness and other emotions filled the hours leading up to their meeting. Jose didn't sleep well Wednesday and Thursday nights as he waited for this moment.

When the time finally came, 36-year-old Gipson shook Joel's parents' hands and stood across a table from them in the Homewood Suites. Joel's sister, Elena Gutierrez, nieces Ashley Montano and Lucero Gutierrez, friend Brianna Stuckey and family friends John and Maria Castro joined his parents.

The Gipson family traveled to Wichita Falls from their home in Shreveport, La., for this meeting and for a celebration honoring families that have decided to donate their loved ones' organs.

Gipson told the Gutierrez family that what they had to go through for this to happen wasn't right. It's something no one should have to face.

Gunfire burst out in front of the Simba Discotech in the 1400 block of Lamar early that Sunday morning, striking Joel and two of his friends. Joel died of his wound. From what he has heard about that fateful day, Jose Gutierrez said he believes his son, who didn't like weapons, was trying to stop a fight.

The T-shirt he wore showed a picture of a winking Joel. That expression was something he had perfected, his parents remembered, smiling. He had so many friends, and the crowd that gathered for his services showed just how many people cared about him. He earned good grades, his mother said, and he played football at Wichita Falls High School. He dreamed of becoming a professional football player, she said.

Joel called his niece, Lucero, who is 3 now, "my baby," and he always asked, "Where is my baby?" when he got home from school, his mother said. Jose Gutierrez remembered how Joel would lie on his stomach and let her climb onto his back, or he would lie on his back and lift her into the air.

They have left his bedroom the way it was, and it has been a comfort to them. They talk to him, and they often feel some of their sadness lift when they're through. Even a year after his death, friends are leaving things at his gravesite.

It's hard for Gipson to explain to his 9-year-old son, Savon, that another young man lost his life, and that is how he received his heart transplant.

When the Southwest Transplant Alliance told him that his heart donor's family would like to meet him, he couldn't turn them down. Their gift to him was something you can't buy, he said.

His wife, Tonia Gipson, said both of them have had so many questions during the past year. All they knew was that the young man was 17. They wanted to meet his family right away, but had to wait a year before they could be united.

Elvira Gutierrez was afraid she would never have the chance to meet any of the recipients of her son's organs, and this was a monumental moment in his parents' lives. It was also a surprise, Jose Gutierrez said.

Joel's parents and sister, Elena, all wore white shirts with pictures of Joel printed on them. "In loving memory," the T-shirts read. Jose's shirt had the word "hero" printed under Joel's photograph. The Gutierrez family gave T-shirts to each member of the Gipson family. Lorenzo put his on right away.

It was 2001 when he learned that he had a heart condition called cardiomyopathy, his wife said.

When he got his diagnosis, the family sold their house in Mississippi and moved home to Shreveport, where Gipson made sure his wife and son had a good home. He didn't know what would happen to him, and wanted to make sure they were taken care of.

In November 2005, he suffered a stroke, which weakened his heart, and in 2006, he had a heart attack, Tonia Gipson said. For 11 months, he relied on a pump, and for one month during that time, the pump did all the work - his heart had stopped, she said.

With the pump, he couldn't sleep on his stomach. The family had to take batteries with them everywhere they went and always had to be sure the pump was working. He had to check for signs of infection.

And then in 2007, the call came. Gipson coaches his son's baseball team, and they were on their way to practice. They were on the sidewalk headed toward the gate when everything changed with the urgent phone call.

A friend's grandmother offered to take care of Savon, so the Gipsons headed home to get his things together and to grab the bag Gipson always kept packed for himself - just in case this call ever came.

He never really expected it to.

"I didn't plan on being here," he said. But about 14 days after his transplant, he was back on the field for fast-pitch baseball. He wore a mask and wasn't feeling his best, but he wanted to be there.

He is using this gift to help others. When he coaches the children who are part of the team - the Yankees - they thrive on pride and respect, he said.

These days, he cuts his own grass, and loves being with his family.

"I cook dinner for them just about every night," he said.

Gipson likes to talk, Tonia Gipson said, and he takes care of his family first.

"He makes sure I have everything I need and want," she said. "My son and I, we want for nothing."

She planned to get the Gutierrez family's address so he can write to them, and she said that knowing her husband, he will stay in touch.

"He'll be their son," she said. "That's just him."

He promised that all they have to do is call, and he'll come back.

The Gipsons encouraged everyone to register to become organ donors. Tonia Gipson works in the medical field, and she believes that with technology and with an effort from everyone, donations can make a difference in so many more lives.

"You can save so many lives at one time," she said. She was thrilled to get a chance to meet the family who gave her own family a new chance.

"He'll be here for his child longer," she said.

It was a devastating decision for Joel's family to make as they started to mourn the loss of a child, Elvira Gutierrez said, but looking back on that moment today, she knows they made exactly the right choice.

"Right now I'm so glad," she said to Gipson.

She knows that a lot of people survived because of her son.

"We know it was worth it now," she said. "If he were here, he would be agreeing that it was a great thing."