The first heart transplant involving a human was in the US in 1964. The chimpanzee’s heart stopped after 90 minutes. Professor Christiaan Barnard performed the first human-to-human heart transplant in South Africa in 1967. Australia’s first was in 1968. I’ve met only one person who’s had a heart transplant. He came to visit me for morning tea last Saturday. We first met a decade before his 2003 surgery. Amazingly he’s had no complications. He’s now reviewed annually in Melbourne, with a battery of tests and a consultation. His tests remain excellent. He’s off cortisone and blood thinners. He takes immuno-suppressant medication, but no heart drugs. He works, travels overseas, rides a motorcycle, sails a boat and, it seems to me, leads a normal life. He also gives talks to Rotary clubs and other community groups. A humble and sensitive man, in his talks his main theme is his gratitude for a second chance at life. He’s met the family of his heart donor – who was an athlete and a manual worker, which may explain why my friend’s exercise tolerance, he says, is the best for decades. He says he’s intent on living his ‘second’ life to the full. I didn’t ask him if he has a ‘bucket list’. I’d be surprised if he hadn’t. He tells me the average survival for heart transplant recipients in Australia’s 10 years. So he’s a little over half way there. And doing as well as he possibly could be. I wish him well. Literally.
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