A new Guinness record has been set for the number of years lived after a heart transplant.
Bert Jansen, a 57-year-old from the Netherlands, has lived for almost 40 years with an organ transplanted to him at Harefield Hospital in north-west London in the 1980s.
He was previously treated for cardiomyopathy, a disease that reduces the heart's ability to pump blood throughout the body.
Bert says he is "still grateful for the incredible gift" he received from the organ donor.
- "I'm yellow and everyone can see it": Why organ transplants have stopped in Serbia
- Serbia is lagging behind in expanding the network of organ donors
- How to get vaccinated against corona if you are a kidney patient and on dialysis
Jansen was diagnosed with the disease when he was 17 and developed flu-like symptoms.
His cardiologist was associated with Harefield Hospital and transplant pioneer Professor Sir Magdi Jacub, who operated on him on 6 June 1984.
At that time, such procedures were not performed in the Netherlands.
"It all happened very quickly," said Jansen, who was 18 at the time.
As he added, just two weeks after he arrived in Harefield, two hearts appeared after a car accident in London.
Just a week after he arrived in Harefield, two hearts were available after a car accident in London.
"I was matched with one and my heart was transplanted."
Jansen said that after the operation he was able to quickly "return to a quality life".
The married father-of-two, who is a keen glider pilot, said it was an "honour" to broke the record.
"I never imagined I would make it this far," he said.
"What I think is most important is that I set a standard for others. Now it has been officially proven that it is possible to get this far with a donor heart.
"I guess the marker will move a little more and I will be happy if others break my record in due course.
His operation was the 107th transplant at Harefield Hospital.
The first intervention was performed by Sir Magdi in 1980 and since then the center has performed thousands of transplants, of which 54 were in the period 2022-23.
"It is fantastic news that one of our old transplant patients at Harefield continues to live such a good and happy life, so long after the transplant," said Dr Fernando Riesgo Gil, consultant cardiologist and head of the heart transplant service at Harefield Hospital.
According to NHS Tissue and Transplant figures, there were 7.314 adults on the active waiting list for an organ in the UK as of last week, along with 248 patients under the age of 18.
Of the total number, 334 are waiting for a heart.
Follow us on Facebook,Twitter i Viber. If you have a topic proposal for us, contact us at bbcnasrpskom@bbc.co.uk
Bonus video:
