Jina Gorman and Alicia Araujo didn't need to speak the same language to know. They just went right to each other.
Gorman, whose daughter Penny Gorman received the heart of Araujo's late son Alexis Solis Araujo, could only get out, "Are you?..." before she was almost magnetically pulled into an embrace with Araujo.
Although Araujo speaks only Spanish and Gorman only English, on Saturday they spoke a common language - tears.
The two families met for the first time at the mobile home where Alexis lived his short life, just west of the Tohono O'odham Swap Meet near West Drexel Road. Araujo and her husband, Norato Solis, moved out after their 21-month-old son choked to death on a pill on March 29, 2010.
The current owner let the family use the home Saturday so the Gormans could see where Alexis lived until tragedy led to his tiny heart being transplanted into Penny. The little girl, then 2 years old, had lived with an experimental Berlin heart for 329 days after a virus attacked her heart.
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Saturday, their son's heart came back. Solis said he felt an energy pulse through him when he saw Penny - his body running both hot and cold. "I figured it was our son," he said of that energy. "I feel so good because I feel that my son is here."
When Araujo first embraced Penny, her emotions could no longer be checked and she burst into tears and wailed. Later, on the porch, she stroked Penny's leg as the little girl sat on her lap, almost as if she was stroking a part of her son. Penny seemed comfortable being hugged and caressed by Alexis' family, although she asked to get up and play a few times.
Araujo said her son, who was a twin, was always the first of the two boys to do everything - first to be born, to cry, to run. His brother, Alan, would always follow.
Alexis was full of energy and got into everything, she said, repeatedly calling him "travieso" - Spanish for mischievous. "I see she is a little hyperactive and I know my son is involved," Araujo said of Penny.
Gorman and her husband, who drove to Tucson with a throng of family from their home in Mesa, were equally sentimental and teary. "They are such a loving family," Steve Gorman said. "They've given the greatest gift you can give."
After meeting in the driveway, the families went inside to look at a large picture frame filled with photos of Alexis and his twin Alan, along with the prayer card from his funeral.
A bilingual speaker read the prayer card aloud, prompting another round of tears.
As the speaker read Alexis' traits - he was mischievous, he liked to play ball, he liked to play with his dad and brother and hide under the bed - Jina Gorman noted aloud that Penny has taken on some of those traits.
"She's very much more mischievous" since the heart transplant, Jina Gorman said.
Once a girly-girl, she has now become much more of a tomboy, her mother said, adding that her daughter recently started picking up baseball - and is really good at it. She plays a lot with her father, and she can really hit the ball even at the age of 3, she said.
Both kids' favorite food is noodles.
"Where did all this come from?" Steve Gorman said he has wondered of the traits Penny has taken on.
He said he has heard the unexplained phenomenon of transplant recipients picking up the traits of their donors is true.
"Is it possible?" he asked. "I'd have to say yes."
Nationwide, 110,000 people are waiting for organ transplants of all types, including more than 2,100 people in Arizona. Child-to-child donors are rarer than adult transplants, although the Donor Network of Arizona doesn't have numbers to quantify how rare it is.
Both families said they want to continue to talk and see each other after their powerful first meeting. Although they speak different languages and come from different backgrounds, they share a common bond.
Solis said he's even more proud of his son than he was when Alexis was alive, and that it would make him very happy to continue to meet with the Gormans, who plan to make many more trips to Tucson.
"Now," his father said, "Alexis can live in other people."
More Information
For more information about becoming an organ donor in Arizona visit www.donatelifeaz.org or call 1-800-94-DONOR
To view a documentary about Penny on the Web, search for "Pennies Heart" on YouTube, or go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGlq5VQ3HzY
Contact reporter Rob O'Dell at 573-4346 or rodell@azstarnet.com
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