Papworth marks first heart transplant in the UK

The son of the first British patient who had a heart transplant "successfully" 40 years ago explained how his father "became famous overnight".

Keith Castle, then 52, lived more than five years after an operation at Papworth Hospital in Cambridgeshire in August 1979.

His son, Keith Jr., meets 86-year-old surgeon Sir Terence English to mark the anniversary.

This marked a new era for transplant recipients and his father became a regular on television.

Keith Jnr, who was 29 in 1979, said, "It may have been naïve, but the way we saw it was very simple, really – without the surgery, dad would be dead soon.

"I remember his first words when he came in the direction of" Fulham won on Saturday? "

"Dad became a celebrity overnight, really, people always stopped us on the street to talk about what happened."

The Londoner Mr Castle died in 1985 at the age of 58.

Retired surgeon Sir Terence said he was having trouble getting government support for the procedure.

"Before [Keith Castle’s] This operation had sparked strong criticism about heart transplantation, including a letter from the Ministry of Health in late 1978 stating that there would be no funding and that the moratorium on transplantation heart rate would be maintained, "he said.

"I thought" fucking "and I managed to get approval from the Cambridge Area Health Authority – and we went from the front."

He performed a transplant on a first patient in January 1979, who survived for a few weeks, and Mr. Castle was his second.

"Keith has spent 28 days in isolation after the transplant and his success has allowed us to generate more funds for the UK heart transplant program to become what it is today," he said. Sir Terence said.

Papworth surgeons performed approximately 1,500 heart transplants, including 45 this year.

The hospital, now known as Royal Papworth, completed its move to Cambridge earlier this year.

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A history of heart transplants

• The world's first human-to-human heart transplant was performed on Louis Washkansky in Cape Town on December 3, 1967, under the direction of South African surgeon Christiaan Barnard. Mr. Washkansky, 54, died of pneumonia 18 days later
• The first heart transplant in the UK, May 3, 1968, was performed by surgeon Donald Ross. Recipient, Fred West, 45, survived for 45 days
• A series of cardiac transplants in 1968 and 1969 with short survival rates led to a British moratorium on the procedure
• Sir Terence English performed the first heart transplant at Papworth in January 1979. The patient survived for 17 days.
• In August 1979, Keith Castle became the first beneficiary to be released from hospital in the UK, living more than five years.