Heartfelt Exchange of a 'Dusty' Heart

Newport Beach -Corona del Mar, CA Patch | By Nisha Gutierrez-Jaime
Newport Beach retired attorney Dennis Harwood meets the wife and son of Vance "Dusty" Atkinson, whose donated heart saved Harwood's life more than 20 years ago.

Debbie Atkinson hadn't heard her husband's heartbeat since his death more than 20 years ago. But today she laid her head on the chest of Dennis Harwood and heard it quietly pumping away.

Harwood, 74, a retired attorney, has defied the odds of survival thanks to the strong heart of Debbie's husband, Vance "Dusty" Atkinson. Dusty was a long-haired, tattooed, Harley-Davidson-loving man who suddenly died at age 32 from a brain aneurysm in 1992. On Wednesday, Harwood and Dusty's wife and son Nick met for the very first time in an emotional encounter at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian's Heart & Vascular Institute in Newport Beach.

"I never thought I would hear that again. It was so nice to hear it beat, very calming," Debbie Atkinson said while fighting back tears. "He wasn't ready to give up yet. His heart wanted to continue on."

And that's exactly what it has been doing all of these years.

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