The heart swap patient given five years to live... 30 years ago! Longest surviving patient celebrates anniversary with surgeon who saved his life

After John McCafferty had a heart transplant he was told he could hope to live for five more years. Yesterday he broke down in tears as he was reunited with the surgeon who performed that operation – 30 years ago. Mr McCafferty, Britain’s longest-surviving heart transplant recipient, cried during the celebration at Harefield Hospital where he was joined by his surgeon, Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub.

 

John McCafferty (right), the UK's longest surviving heart transplant survivor, was today was reunited with Sir Magdi Yacoub, the surgeon who saved his life 30 years ago

In a nod to the name of the hospital – where the operation took place in 1982 and where he goes for check-ups – Mr McCafferty, 70, was presented with a statue of a hare and joined Sir Magdi in cutting a heart-shaped cake. Comforted by his wife Ann, 67, he paid an emotional tribute to the hospital and all those who helped keep him healthy and active during the past three decades. He said: ‘If it had not been for them, I would not be here. I’m indebted to them and always will be, and particularly to the professor and people like him, and to the whole medical team.’

Mr McCafferty, from Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, had been given ten days to live before having the transplant. After the surgery he was told he could hope to survive for only five more years. But the pensioner has defied the odds by living for 25 ‘bonus’ years – meaning he could enjoy watching his son Iain, who was 14 at the time of his operation, and grandson Oliver, 16, grow up.

Mr McCafferty (left in 1982) was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, a disease that causes the heart to become weakened and enlarged. He had his operation in October 1982 at Harefield - one of only two transplant units in the country at the time

About 18 months after the operation he even dug out the foundations for an extension at his house. He said: ‘Those are a metre deep and I dug out the whole back of the house and with a wheelbarrow tipped all the mud into a skip.’ He also took up swimming, ran half marathons and participated in the British and European Transplant Games.

Mr McCafferty started complaining of a racing heart at the age of 39. He had been a heavy smoker, had a hectic professional, family and social life, and was far from fit and healthy. He was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, in which the heart is weakened and enlarged. Mr McCafferty had his operation in October 1982, when Harefield was one of only two transplant units in the country. At the time he was the 41st person in Britain to have a transplant, and is now the only survivor from that period. ‘Every morning I wake up and think to myself, “I have survived another day”,’ he said. ‘The five years they gave me came and went and became 30. I have had 25  years as a bonus.’

Sir Magdi said: ‘Now that we have the proof that this can work for 30 years or more, we must do more research to make this available for the rest of the transplant population.’ Today around eight in every ten transplant patients in Britain live for at least three years after their operation, with around seven in ten living for more than five years and five in ten living for more than ten years. Mr McCafferty has chosen to never contact the family of his donor – a young man from Essex who had died in a motorbike accident – fearing it would be too painful for them. He added: ‘I always remember the professor saying to me, “Now, you’ve got a new heart. You’ve got to make that heart work because it’s a young heart and you’re an older person”. ‘And that’s what I’ve done and I still keep myself very active.’

Source: Daily Mail UK 

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