40 years of blood, sweat and cheers

ONE of the earliest Irish heart transplant recipients has told how it gave him a “full and active life” ahead of the 40th anniversary of the operation.

- BY OWEN CONLON

Surgeons Maurice Nelligan and Prof Freddie Wood carried out the country’s inaugural transplant at Dublin's Mater Hospital on this day in 1985.

At the time, heart transplantation was still in its infancy and available in only a number of major global centres, but the successful op laid the groundwork for a program that has since offered a second chance at life to 447 people.