Christiaan Barnard Autographs, Memorabilia & Collectibles

Christiaan Barnard (1922-2001) performed the world's first heart transplant at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town on December 3, 1967. The patient, 53-year-old dentist Louis Washkansky, lived 18 days before succumbing to rejection of the new heart. After Washkansky died, Barnard and his team persevered with their innovative surgical procedure. His second transplant patient, Philip Blaiberg, lived for 18 months after the operation and the survival time of patients has increased ever since. Today, 90% of patients survive a heart transplant operation, with an 85% chance of living for a year and a 70-75% chance of living for five years. Barnard's longest-surviving patient, Dirk van Zyl, lived with an implanted heart for 23 years before dying in 1996 of diabetes unrelated to his heart condition. The 78-year-old Barnard died from an asthma attack on September 2, 2001.