For the first time, the widow and mother of the late John Edwin Erickson met the man whose life John saved by donating his heart.
Robert Pascarelli, a 66-year-old retired police officer from Connecticut is one of four people alive today because John was an organ donor when he died at 34, Newsday reported.
John, a construction worker from Long Island, was struck and killed by a car in Melville New York, in 2016.
His wife, Megan, and mother, Donna, were stunned and heartbroken by the sudden loss of the father, son and husband.
But Monday they took comfort in hearing his heart beat as 'strong as ever' in Robert's chest at a Monday event held by Live On NY.
Robert Pascarelli (left), held a stethoscope to his chest on Monday so that Megan Erickson (right) could hear the heart her late husband, John, donated when he was killed suddenly in a car accident in 2016
When Megan and John needed to update their driver's licences, she noticed her husband was not an organ donor.
She encouraged him to sign up.
'John was very sweet, with a very, very good heart. So when I asked him to become an organ donor, it was a no-brainer for him,' she told Newsday.
'He said, ‘Of course. I will do it.’
Megan couldn't have anticipated how soon that decision would come into effect.
She had been on the phone with John when he tried to cross a street but was hit by a car.
John and Megan were only 20 minutes apart, but by the time Megan got to the hospital, her husband was brain dead.
Doctors there kept blood and
