It was an emotional moment when Miriam Nieves met the family that changed her life.

“I know that if it wasn’t for Brittany, I would not be here today,” Nieves said.

Brittany Newton donated the heart and kidney that saved Nieves. The moment was not only transformative for these two families but for medicine.

The operation was the first ever successful heart transplant between two people with HIV.

“I am so thankful and so grateful for science, for my family, for my God,” Nieves said.

Nieves contracted HIV while she struggled with a drug abuse decades ago. Years later, she learned she’d need a kidney transplant because of an unrelated illness.

Then she also learned she needed a new heart.

After several months waiting for a heart and kidney, her doctors at Montefiore Health System decided to look for a less traditional donor: someone who also had HIV.

“If we did this, this would put her into a category of her own,” said Dr. Omar Saeed, Nieves’ transplant cardiologist. “She wouldn’t be competing with anyone else in the whole country. If these organs became available, they would just be hers.”

“April 12 I got the call that saved my life and gave me a second chance,” Nieves said, remembering when she got the news.

Brittany Newton was an aspiring nurse in Louisiana with HIV.

“She was a lady with a heart of gold,” said Breanne Newton, Brittany Newton’s sister.

The 30-year-old passed away in April.

Brittany Newton died in April at age 30. She donated her heart and kidneys to a Bronx woman with HIV, marking the first-ever heart transplant between two people living with HIV. (Photo courtesy of the Newton family)

Before she died, arrangements were made to send Brittany’s organs to New York to help someone they never met.

“I’m glad God put in their heart to give her heart and a kidney,” Nieves said.

Medical experts say there are more than 60,000 people nationwide who could use a new heart.

Months after that extraordinary gift, the Newton family finally got to hear Brittany’s heart beat again.

“My child is still walking around and for that I will forever be grateful,” said Bridgette Newton, Brittany’s mom.

“She’s racing right now, you know?” Nieves said, talking about Brittany Newton’s heart. “So happy and excited. She’s just saying ‘Hug me, hug me.’”

And that the Newton family did.