Ann Harrison (September 24, 1944 – April 20, 2001) was the recipient of the world's first successful human double lung transplant. She survived for almost fifteen years after the surgery and died of unrelated causes.
Operation[edit]
Harrison suffered from end-stage emphysema and thoracic surgeon Joel D. Cooper had told her that without surgery, she had only a few months to live.[1] The operation was performed at Toronto General Hospital on November 26, 1986, when she received the lungs of an 18-year-old Kingston, Ontario, native who had recently died in a car accident.[2] Cooper had previously successfully performed a single lung transplant on pulmonary fibrosis victim Tom Hall on November 7, 1983, but this was the first successful double lung transplant.[3]
Death[edit]
Ann Harrison died aged 56 at Toronto General Hospital on April 20, 2001, of a brain aneurysm unrelated to her operation.[4] She was the world's longest surviving double-lung recipient until her 15-year record was broken in 2005 by cystic fibrosis patient Howell Graham of Wilmington, North Carolina.[5]
Her surgeon Dr Joel Cooper in a eulogy said of her, "Ann began a new era, one that has brought immense relief to emphysema patients. Having received this gift, she became a den mother for so many other patients, encouraging them in their quest, celebrating with them their victories, and consoling them and their families in their losses." Dr Cooper shows a picture of Ann Harrison every time he lectures on transplantation and says, "I still marvel when someone so close to death is returned to a vigorous life."[4]
References[edit]
- ^ The man who gives the gift of breath Toronto Star, January 27, 2014
- ^ On This Day in History, A look at what happened on previous November 26ths[permanent dead link] The Vancouver Sun, November 19, 2013
- ^ Lung Transplantation Turns 30: Joel Cooper performed world's first successful double lung transplant on an Alpha Archived 2014-01-27 at archive.today COPD Digest, May 23, 2013
- ^ a b First double-lung transplant recipient dies, Canadian Medical Association Journal May 29, 2001, vol 164 no 11
- ^ Early double-lung transplant patient celebrates 20 years of breathing free by Vicky Eckenrode, Star-News, October 7, 2010