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Dutchman enters Guinness World Record as longest-surviving heart transplant patient

  • Guinness World Records officially recognised Bert Janssen’s achievement of living for 39 years and 100 days after receiving his transplant in 1984
  • The average life expectancy for heart patients after a transplant is 16 years, according to Janssen’s current cardiologist

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Bert Janssen, 57, works in his framing company in Herkenbosch, the Netherlands. He underwent a heart transplant at the age of 17, almost 40 years ago, receiving a donor heart which is now immortalised in the Guinness Book of Records. Photo: Reuters
Reuters
Four decades after being diagnosed with a serious heart condition and given just six months to live, Bert Janssen has set a Guinness World Record as the longest-surviving transplant patient.
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“I want to be an example for people,” said the Dutchman, who was 17 when he was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a heart muscle disease which makes it harder for the heart to pump blood around the body.

He says he is proof that living a long time with a heart transplant is possible.

In 1984, the Netherlands had yet to perform its first heart transplant, so cardiologist Albert Mattart referred the teenager to Harefield Hospital in England.
Bert Janssen looks at an old photobook. Janssen underwent transplant surgery in June 1984 after a heart became available following a tragic car crash in which two young adults died. Photo: Reuters
Bert Janssen looks at an old photobook. Janssen underwent transplant surgery in June 1984 after a heart became available following a tragic car crash in which two young adults died. Photo: Reuters

Janssen underwent transplant surgery in June that year after a heart became available following a tragic car crash in which two young adults died.

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The life-saving operation was carried out by transplant pioneer Magdi Yacoub.

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