"It's so nice to finally meet you," Norma Hill said during a virtual meeting with Emily Hardin, a young woman who received her son's heart donation after his death three years ago.
Hardin was attending Middle Tennessee State University when an undiagnosed heart condition suddenly came to light.
“I remember sitting in the waiting room for several hours because what 20-year-old actually has a heart attack?" Hardin recalls.
She waited on the heart transplant list for six weeks, unsure if she would ever get one.
"I was in a bad place," Hardin said about her mental health then.
When Hill's son, Victor, died, the family decided to donate his organs, and Hardin received a call.
“When I got the call, there was like total shock and disbelief. I don't think I spoke full sentences. I was just like, 'Oh my God, this is actually happening," Hardin said about the unexpected late-night phone call announcing she would be receiving a heart.
Hardin went on to earn her degree in social work, hold her newly-born niece for the first time, attend a Lizzo concert, pursue her love of dance, and begin working towards a graduate degree. It was because of Norma's son, Victor.
"He had beautiful eyes," Hill told Hardin during the call as she held up a picture of her son. "I'm working on a scrapbook to give you."
“I learned that we actually have a lot in common. We both have a love for music, different instruments, but the same love for music. We were both band kids in high school. We both grew up going to church and we're pretty involved in our church," Hardin said.
Before the meeting wrapped up, Norma was handed a stuffed bear. When she pressed the bear's paw, she could hear a recording of Victor's and now Emily's heartbeat.
"Is that Victor's?" Hill exclaimed as she reached for a tissue to dab her tears.
The two families may have been strangers before, but they'll be united through Victor forever.