At London’s Harefield Hospital, Bert Janssen was given a donor heart. Now that he has lived for 39 years, Guinness World Records has acknowledged his accomplishment.
Since receiving the donor heart in 1984 at Harefield Hospital in northwest London, Bert Janssen has lived with it for 39 years.
Guinness World Records has finally acknowledged the accomplishment.
After experiencing flu-like symptoms, Mr. Janssen was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a disorder that affects the heart’s capacity to pump blood throughout the body, at the age of 17.
The Netherlands had never before performed a heart transplant, but Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub, a pioneer in the field of transplantation, was connected to Mr. Janssen’s cardiologist at Harefield and eventually performed the procedure when he was eighteen years old.
His was the 107th transplant performed at Harefield. Since then, the hospital has finished many more. Sir Magdi completed the first in 1980.
Mr. Janssen remembered: “Everything happened so quickly. Two hearts from a serious vehicle accident in London became available just one week after the donor arrived at Harefield.
“My heart was transplanted after I met one of these candidates. About thirty years later, his cardiologist, Dr. Mattart, informed me that it had to have been the ideal match.
With his replacement heart, Mr. Janssen claimed he was able to “return to a good quality of life” very soon, taking up tennis and volleyball and landing a full-time job.
In 1996, he wed Petra, had two boys, Guido and Ivo, in 1996 and 2000, respectively, and is currently an enthusiastic glider pilot.
Mr. Janssen went on to say: “One of my proudest achievements was, along with my wife Petra and both our parents, building our own house brick by brick.”
Leading the heart transplantation service at Harefield Hospital and consultant cardiologist Dr. Fernando Riesgo Gil stated: “It is wonderful 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.”
