Flying Dutchman recognised as longest-surviving heart transplant patient

Bert Janssen, 57 years old, and his wife Petra pose in their house in Herkenbosch, Netherlands February 29, 2024. He underwent a heart transplant at the age of 17, almost 40 years ago, receiving a donor heart which is now immortalized in the Guinness Book of Records. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw

HERKENBOSCH (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.

"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.