He wanted to bail.

Alton Uyetake had thought about the impending meeting and what it might mean to him and his family. He wondered if he was ready to test the emotional sutures that had held him together in the year since his younger brother Lenny had passed.

He'd awaken in the middle of the night with a vague sense of anxiety and uncertainty, eager but also unsure about the prospect of meeting the man to whom Lenny's heart had been gifted.

"It was something I had anticipated for a long time, something I wanted," said Uyetake, 46, of Hilo. "But I wasn't sure I was ready. I had just gotten used to the fact that I had lost my brother. I had just gotten a handle on that."

Lenny Uyetake died on Jan. 16, 2008, at age 43 after a massive stroke. An organ donor, he bequeathed his heart, liver and kidneys to three Hawai'i residents.

Yesterday, at the Organ Donor Center of Hawai'i's annual Donor Family Recognition Ceremony in Kane'ohe, Uyetake's brothers and sisters met Dennis Cuizon, the 62-year-old Pearl City resident who received Lenny's heart.

About 200 people attended yesterday's event, which also featured testimonials and a quilt honoring organ donors.

Uyetake called the meeting bittersweet, but said he was deeply touched to make a connection with the man in whom his brother's heart still beats.

"We wanted to tell him about Lenny, and about how much we loved him," Uyetake said. "We hoped that he would accept us, and he did. We couldn't ask for anything more."

It's estimated that more than 85,000 people nationwide are in need of an organ transplant; each day, 17 die waiting for a donor.

According to the Organ Donor Center of Hawai'i, approximately 375 seriously ill people in this state are awaiting heart, liver, kidney or pancreas transplants. About 12 people die each year still waiting.

Fewer than 40 percent of all eligible donors in Hawai'i are registered, according to the center.

Lenny was the youngest of 11 Uyetake children. Alton Uyetake remembered his brother as someone with a "full-throttle" approach to life.

"The guy had an aura," Alton Uyetake said. "He was very genuine and he lived life to the max."

Lenny Uyetake owned and operated a linen and laundry service in Lahaina but sold it two years ago to pursue his dream of owning a floral design business.

Lenny Mike's Design opened just two weeks before Uyetake suffered his fatal stroke.

Mari Ushiroda, a family services coordinator for the donor center, met with the Uyetakes while Lenny lingered on life support, and explained how Lenny, a registered donor, could help save lives by sharing his organs. After a night of discussion, the family gave their blessing.

Cuizon, who had been on the donor waitlist for over a year, was at his job at JBL Hawai'i when he got the call.

"It was right on the spot," he said. "I only had an hour to decide."

It wasn't difficult. Cuizon suffered from cardiac myopathy, a degenerative heart condition that left the once-athletic Cuizon barely able to walk up a flight of stairs. In 2006, while replacing his pacemaker, doctors had to shock him seven times to bring him back to life.

Since the transplant, Cuizon said, his life has improved "110 percent." He is able to swim. He can walk as far as his legs will take him. He's even started lifting weights again.

"If you have the opportunity to have a new lease on life and you don't take care of it, you're going to lose it," Cuizon said. "When you go through a transplant, you have to realize that life and death go hand in hand. If you can accept death, you can accept the new life you've been given."

Cuizon said he sees the Uyetakes as a family that was once hidden but has now emerged. The Uyetakes said they feel the same.

"There was so much sadness when Lenny died," said Therese Shigenaga, Lenny's youngest sister. "But just talking to (Cuizon) ... for an hour was wonderful. It's just awesome to know that our baby brother gave him this second chance to live his life."

As the meeting drew to a close, Alton Uyetake gently put his ear to Cuizon's chest to listen to his brother's still-beating heart.

Then he looked up at Cuizon.

"It's a good one, yeah?"