Whenever longtime friends Fred Nelis and Gordon Veldman see each other, they like to put their heart and lungs as close together as they can. That’s because Nelis’s heart and Veldman’s lungs came from the same 32-year-old organ donor, on the same day, at the same place.

Both Michigan residents, Nelis and Veldman received their life-saving organ donations in June of last year at Spectrum Health. On March 9, the two sat back down to discuss how the generosity of a stranger has brought them closer than ever. "We feel very strongly about the importance of those internal organs and how they support us in our endeavors. Without them we are has-beens," Veldman told MLive. "Because someone said 'yes,' I've got a future. It's as simple as that."

The two men met 10 years ago, each in the midst of battling his own chronic condition. Nelis struggled with idiopathic cardiomyopathy, which eventually led to atrial fibrillation. Veldman carried a gene that predisposed him to the lung disease Alpha-1. For years he dealt with emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and by February of last year his lung capacity had shrunk to just 15 percent. He couldn’t walk 10 feet without getting winded. "The end was very near," he said. "I probably had two months left."

Though both men wrestled with the moral dilemma of living at someone else’s expense, the upsides of organ donation eventually seduced them. And now, they say, their futures are rife with visions of staying active: biking, swimming, sailing, hiking, and travel.

"This is going to be a really wonderful summer compared to last summer," Veldman said.