Elaine Yong / Facebook

Addison McArthur was just a few weeks old when she received the gift that saved her life.

Not long after her birth, the left side of Addison’s heart stopped working. The official diagnosis was left ventricular non-compaction cardiomyopathy—a rare disorder that can lead to heart failure and a whole host of other problems. The Vancouver native was soon placed at the top of the heart transplant list, because she wouldn’t survive without one.

Several hundred miles away, fate was conspiring to keep Addison alive. Felicia Hill had just lost her daughter during her first week of life, as tiny Audrey Sullenger died unexpectedly in Nevada just six days after being born.

Thankfully, her mother, Felicia Hill, made the decision to donate her organs. Statistics show that a single donor can save up to eight lives. In Audrey’s case, her heart was headed north to help Addison in Canada.

On her first Mother’s Day, Elaine Yong – Addison’s mother – got the news that she so desperately needed. There was a donor for her daughter.

Audrey’s heart would soon be transplanted into Addison, one daughter’s gift providing a future for another. Audrey became the youngest donor in the state of Nevada that year. And her heart would deliver an abundance of the quality that was celebrated in one of her middle names – Hope.

The gratitude Elaine Yong felt was immeasurable. All she ever wanted was to say thank you.

“It was something I always knew – that if I could meet the donor family, I would want to,” Yong said in a story on CNN.

Unfortunately, that process can often be complicated. Organizations typically keep donor information private, but many will forward letters or other communication.

About a year after the transplant, Yong sent a thank-you note to the donor family through the transplant organization.

Audrey’s mom, Felicia Hill, eventually responded, commenting on a blog post Yong had written about the transplant. Yong exchanged a few messages to confirm everything and soon the pair of moms had plans to meet.

The families first met at a Donate Life Walk in California. Hill brought a T-shirt for Addison that celebrated Audrey’s gift. Yong brought a stethoscope. When Hill held it up to Addison, she could hear her daughter’s heart inside.

“I just wanted to hug Elaine,” Hill told CNN. “I felt connected immediately, knowing that another mother got to raise their child. And that’s what gave me so much happiness.”

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Both moms have been actively working to promote organ donation following their transplant experience. In fact, Yong now works as a communications and community relations manager at BC Transplant, the British Columbia donor organization. Both women helped commemorate Donate Life Month (held every April) with a number of social media posts sharing the importance of organ donation.

“Every time I hear that they are working on a donor case or that they’re going to this place for recovery, I always think, somebody is going to – somebody is getting a gift of life,” Yong said in a heartfelt video shared by BC Transplant on Facebook. “This person is saving lives. It’s never lost on me, no matter how busy it is, no matter how many cases there are, how many donors are on the board, every single one is making a huge difference.”

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In April, Elaine published a Facebook post celebrating Addison’s 14th birthday. It describing how she’d had the opportunity this past year to swim with manatees, see the Northern Lights, and attend Imagine Dragons concerts. She got braces. And she kept growing up—the heart of Audrey keeping her steady through it all.

Who knows what excitement and what adventures Addison’s 15th year will bring?

But the biggest gift of them all is the year itself – and she has Audrey to thank for that.

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