It's April 24, 2009, and Ron Boris of Auburn struggles to live one more day, his heart failing.

One hundred and thirty-six miles away in Marydel, Delaware, Erin Toulson is numb with grief, struggling to accept the sudden death of her 31-year-old son, Eddie Bates, from a brain aneurysm.Today, Bates' heart beats strong in Boris' chest."He's my hero," Boris says, touching the large medallion bearing Bates' photo he wears on his chest, over his heart.It was exactly six years ago, on April 25, 2009, that Bates' heart was transplanted into Boris's chest at the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey."On that day I made a promise to my hero, Eddie, I would be his voice and spread the word about the importance of organ donation and I would live my life to the fullest."I believe the best way to say 'thank you' to my organ donor and his family is to promote organ donation," Boris wrote in a blog for the Gift of Life donor program.On Wednesday, Boris, now 54, and his family helped Schuylkill County commissioners recognize April as National Donate Life month.The ceremony included a proclamation that says that more than 123,000 people nationally are waiting transplants, a number that has tripled over the last decade.Started with a heart attackFor Boris and his family, the importance of arranging to have one's organs donated came into vivid focus 12 years ago.It was a hot July night when Boris, then 43, was torn from a deep sleep by the crushing agony of a heart attack.He recovered, but just getting back on his feet when a second heart attack struck in October 2003.It was late in 2004 that he was placed on the waiting list for a transplant, and the start of a five-year wait until a heart was available.Recovering, Boris got in touch with Bates' mother. They exchanged letters, and finally met in person in 2012."We cried and hugged. The first thing she wanted to do was put her head against my chest, so she could listen to her son's heart beat," Boris told the Times News in a 2014 interview.Last heart beatsHer son died suddenly, in her living room, on April 24, 2009, Toulson says in a telephone interview."I heard his last heart beats," she says quietly, her voice breaking. "Hearing his heart beating in Ron's chest was somehow reassuring."Now, the two families have become close, visiting and sharing their lives.On the eve of her son's death, Toulson's grief sharpens."He was kind and gentle, especially with people with disabilities," she says of Bates, born March 18, 1978, in a small Bridgeton, New Jersey, hospital. "Everyone loved him."After high school at North Carolina, Bates worked for as a pipe layer for George & Lynch. He leaves behind a daughter, Allissa, now 13."He had many friends. I didn't know how many friends he had until we had the service," Toulson says.She reminisces about his zest for life."He loved to play paintball, and to fish, hunt, ride motorcycles, work on small engines, and visit with his Mom and Dad," she says."He was close with his brothers and sister."Helping peoplesurviveToulson says she and Bates talked about organ donation less than two weeks before his death."I've always been registered as a donor, but I never thought I'd come face to face with the procedure," she says.It was only after the transplant and subsequent friendship with Boris and his family that Toulson learned how close to death Boris was when Bates' heart saved his life."I would really love to have Eddie back, but this is second best," she says.Her daughter and Bates' younger sister, Nikki, speaks about the pain of losing Bates and the comfort of the Boris' friendship."Organ donation is a wonderful thing," she says."You're helping people survive, even though it's one of the hardest times. You meet some wonderful people."There's got to be some good that comes out of loss."Boris, given his second chance at life, participates in Donate Life Transplant Games of America and does all he can to spread the word on organ donation.He speaks to groups and organizations, and can be reached at 570-739-2968.To learn more about organ donation, visit

www.donors1.org.