Organ recipient meets parents of donor at Duke University Hospital

As proof of that, the death of a young man -- tragic as it was -- allowed a woman hundreds of miles away to live to see her grandchildren.

On Friday, the young man's parents met the woman whose life his organs saved.

The two families live 750 miles apart but were separated at that Friday meeting only by a box of tissues.

"Although it was a big loss for them, I wanted to be able to say thanks," Powell said. "I wanted everyone to know that organ donation is extremely important. It gives people another chance in life."

Powell works as a nurse in Columbia, South Carolina, and her lungs had been damaged by cystic fibrosis.

Doctors told her she needed a double lung transplant, and it needed to be done at Duke University Hospital.

Doctors also told her she needed to move into an apartment near the hospital to be on standby in case a suitable donor was found.

That news came on May 28, 2016.

It turned out to be the worst kind of news for the Vanderwalker family.

The couple lived in Buffalo, New York, when their 19-year-old son, who had enrolled in welding school, was attacked.

Police say he was fatally beaten in a parking lot by a man jealous that Vanderwalker was speaking to his ex-girlfriend.

The attack left him brain dead.

But his parents made him an organ donor, and now a helicopter was en route from Duke to Buffalo.

Powell received the news in the middle of the night.

"There was no turning back," she recalls thinking. "It was a little scary. It really was."

The surgery lasted 14 hours.

Powell eventually learned about her donor and how he died.

"It really kind of stopped me in my tracks that day," she said.

With her new lungs, Powell has lived to see the birth of a grandchild.

"Part of him is still here," his mother said.

On Saturday, they travel to Florida to meet another recipient.

Said Colleen Vanderwalker: "It gives us a sense of peace, of comfort."