Longest surviving heart transplant patient dies in EC

01 Feb 2016 | Admin Author

A man from Knysna whose heart transplant in the late 70's tested the medical limits of the apartheid government has died in the Eastern Cape.

Police Spokesperson Captain Mali Govender says the body of the 48 year old Paul John Thesen was found in his vehicle in front of a church in Alexandria.

Hy allegedly had an accident with his beach buggy earlier in the week and was admitted to a hospital in Port Elizabeth on Monday. He however checked himself out of hospital and was not seen again until his body was discovered,

Thesen had two heart transplants in his lifetime but in 1979 he became famous as a white child receiving the heart of a black child during the apartheid era in South Africa.

The transplant was conducted by Dr Marius Barnard, brother of Dr Chris Barnard who performed the first ever heart transplant