The longest-surviving heart transplant patient, who underwent his operation in London, has been recognised by the Guinness World Records.
Bert Janssen, 57, from the Netherlands, has survived 39 years after being given a donor heart at Harefield Hospital in Uxbridge in June 1984.
He was first diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a condition that impacts the heart’s ability to pump blood around the body, after developing flu-like symptoms aged 17.
The procedure had not been carried out in the Netherlands at the time.
Mr Janssen said: “It all went very fast. Only a week after arriving at Harefield, two hearts became available from a major car accident in London.
“I had a match with one of these and the heart was transplanted.”
Mr Janssen’s cardiologist in his home country had ties with Harefield Hospital and transplant pioneer Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub, who eventually carried out the operation on June 6, 1984 as the patient had turned 18.
He said the new heart allowed him to quickly “return to a good quality of life”, playing tennis and volleyball and securing a full-time job.
The married father of two added: “One of my proudest achievements was, along with my wife Petra and both our parents, building our own house brick by brick.”
His operation was the 107th transplant to be carried out at Harefield.
The first was carried out by Sir Magdi in 1980 and the centre has since completed thousands of transplants, with 54 conducted in 2022/23.
Mr Janssen said he is “still grateful for the incredible gift” his donor gave him and hopes his story will be an inspiration to others.
“I could never imagine I would come this far, but nevertheless I always looked up to others who had their donor heart longer than I had,” he said.
“It feels like an honour to have reached this milestone, but what I think is most important is that I set a benchmark for others. It is now officially proved that it is possible to come this far while having a donor heart.
“I assume the marker will yet move quite a bit further and I will be pleased if others will break my record in due course.”
Dr Fernando Riesgo Gil, consultant cardiologist and lead of the heart transplantation service at Harefield Hospital, said: “It is fantastic news to hear that one of our early Harefield transplant patients continues to live such a full and happy life so long after his transplant.”
A total of 7,314 adults were on the active transplant waiting list in the UK at the start of February, along with 248 patients under the age of 18.
Of that total, around 334 are waiting for hearts.
Dr Gil added: “Unfortunately, many of these people will die on the waiting list because we have a shortage of organ donors in this country.
“I hope that Bert’s story serves as an encouragement to the public to consider registering as organ donors, to give the gift of life.”
