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Shelly Slater reports.

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The start of a New Year is all about looking forward to your hopes and wishes for the next 365 days.

For one north Texas family, the hope is for health with a new heart.

Today, Medical City of Dallas completed the first heart transplant in north Texas, giving a man, who could hardly walk anymore, the chance to run in the future.

After years of heart failure problems, Gary Phillips has a new gift - a new heart.

His wife, Darlene says the wait has been unbearable.

"It has been so long that he's felt good, that he doesn't even know what it's like anymore," she said.

"I even had an extra phone installed I was so worried we'd oversleep and not hear the phone ring."

But shortly after 2009 began, the call came.

"I answered on the first ring, just like it was meant to be," Darlene Phillips said.

Dr. Bill Brinkman says every transplant has that indescribable moment.

"Even though I've seen it a lot of times, it's always neat when you hook the heart back in. The blood starts flowing, it starts beating, it's kind of magical," he said.

Within the last 24 hours, that magic has saved 12 people thanks to three north Texas donors.

Doctors at Medical City of Dallas are back at it tonight with a kidney transplant.

As for Darlene, the stress is gone and the humor is back.

While she hopes for her husband's health, she also wants to put him back to work.

"He's been getting a free ride here for a year, now I'm going to let him wait on me!" she said.

A resolution she knows, at least, she can stick to.

E-mail sslater@wfaa.com.