Cletus Schnieders III of Cincinatti, Ohio, was eating dinner when he began choking on a piece of steak. His wife was tending their three children in the other room when she realized he wasn’t responding to her calls.

When she walked to the room where he was at, she immediately realized he was choking, and then he collapsed. She called 911 and began chest compressions, but sadly, Clete couldn’t be revived.

He was declared brain dead at the hospital. The next thing Carrie faced after losing her husband, was the decision on whether to honor her husband’s wishes to donate his organs.

By proceeding with the donations, Clete could help as many as 50 people. Carrie knew that is exactly what her husband would have want to do, so that’s what she decided to do.

The staff at Mercy West Hospital arranged a very special ceremony for Clete’s family and friends to say goodbye. As they prepared to wheel his body to the operating room, they lined the hallways with over 150 hospital staff, family, and friends to say goodbye and thank him for his donation.

Carrie says she was shocked with the display of support, but letting him go at the end of the hallway was the most difficult thing she’s ever had to do. She says it was the most heartbreaking, but amazing moments in her life.

She snapped a photo of that “honor walk” and posted the photo on Facebook where it went viral. She says for several nights she was getting messages from all over the world. One of the messages was from a man who had received a liver from another donor.

She says hearing the stories from organ recipients was the only thing that kept her going in the early days after losing her husband. Just six hours before Clete’s goodbye walk, John Malk, a father of four, had registered as a recipient for a new liver.

That day he also received a life-changing phone call when doctors asked him if he could be at the hospital to get a new liver. It was Clete’s liver that would save his life.

When John went back to surgery, he asked his daughter Becca to reach out to Clete’s family and thank them for saving his life. “Without them I would be dead, and I wanted to offer my condolences,” said John.

Carrie was also interested in meeting the people who her husband’s donation had benefited. About a month after Clete’s death, Carrie gathered with Clete’s parents, stepparents, and children to meet John and his family members.

United in grief and gratitude, the two families shared a very emotional first meeting and vowed to stay close in the future. Carrie says meeting John has helped her tremendously with her grief.

Because Clete was the sole breadwinner of the family, her friends and family have started a GoFundMe account to help with her expenses. Carrie continues to grieve, but finds solace in knowing that his death was able to save the lives of so many others.

Check out the video of their meeting below and be sure to share it with your family and friends, but you might want to grab a few tissues first.