BISMARCK, N.D. — Two years in the past, an Iowa man whom Guinness World Information had named the longest-surviving coronary heart transplant affected person died 34 years after receiving his new coronary heart.

Information like this trigger buddies of Richard Gullickson, of rural Middle, to consider he may be one of many longest-surviving coronary heart transplant sufferers alive at the moment, reported the Bismarck Tribune.

Gullickson, who turned 83 this month, acquired his life-saving surgical procedure 29 years in the past on the College of Minnesota’s Well being Transplant Care facility — the identical supplier that cared for the Guinness report holder.

“As much as at the moment, nonetheless no issues. By no means had no rejections, nothing,” mentioned Gullickson, who receives a well being checkup each six months at Bismarck’s Sanford Well being. “I used to be simply down this final Might and went to check all day, and all of the numbers have been proper. So I have been actually blessed with the way in which it is turned out.”

Coronary heart transplant sufferers who obtain new organs earlier than the age of 55 and get them at hospitals that carry out at the least 9 coronary heart transplants yearly are “considerably extra seemingly” to outlive at the least 10 years after their surgical procedures, in response to a 2012 John Hopkins College research.

Gullickson acquired his coronary heart transplant at age 53. The retired farmer stored in contact with two different sufferers, from Chicago and Fast Metropolis, who had their surgical procedures the identical time he did. They lived till about 10 years after their operations.

“They made their 10 years and that was it,” he mentioned.

Gullickson started experiencing difficulties respiratory 5 years earlier than his surgical procedure. His pores and skin was pale and he was fatigued.

“I had no ambition, could not do a lot anymore,” he mentioned. “Recliner to the toilet, again to the recliner. I would not have lasted for much longer, truly.”

Up till 1990, he recurrently visited Medcenter One Well being Methods, the previous web site of Sanford Well being. He realized he had congenital coronary heart illness — a uncommon abnormality within the coronary heart that develops earlier than start.

“I used to be doctoring after which I obtained to some extent the place (the physician) mentioned, effectively, you want a transplant,” Gullickson mentioned.

On the time, the closest hospital performing coronary heart transplants was on the College of Minnesota in Minneapolis. He moved to an condo within the Twin Cities along with his household for the operation. He could not drive and needed to go to the clinic day-after-day for 3 months.

“It was lots tougher on my spouse than it was for me by far. She needed to do all of the operating and discover a place to dwell, and she or he was working,” Gullickson mentioned. “My mom got here and stayed and a pair buddies got here and stayed with me and so forth.”

On the College of Minnesota, Gullickson was handled by Sara Shumway, the daughter of coronary heart transplant pioneer Norman Shumway, who was the primary physician to carry out an grownup human-to-human coronary heart transplant. The guts Gullickson acquired belonged to a “younger lad” who died in a automobile accident, he mentioned.

Medical doctors started to note the outcomes of his surgical procedure have been uncommon after the eight-hour operation.

“I might soar over the moon,” Gullickson mentioned. “My dentist at all times will get a kick out of that as a result of the following morning I used to be sitting on the sting of my mattress brushing my tooth eight hours later.”

Rehabilitation was a “piece of cake,” Gullickson mentioned. When docs requested him to climb three stairs, he might climb an entire story. After climbing stairs backwards, Gullickson gained the nickname, “The Miracle on Sixth Ground.” A couple of dozen interns and docs coaching on the college medical faculty would study him day-after-day.

“There was a line of younger docs so my therapist, she had sufficient of that,” Gullickson mentioned. “So once they’d come, she’d say, ‘He is obtained to go to remedy at the moment.'”

“They could not consider it,” he mentioned.

After a number of months, docs determined he did not have to endure rehabilitation. He returned to Middle on Thanksgiving Day.

At the moment, Gullickson lives on his farm along with his son and daughter — a spot he is lived his complete life apart from when he served within the Military and was posted in West Germany from 1956-58.

He feels he’s in good well being, however the medicine he takes to stop coronary heart rejection could be a nuisance, he mentioned. The drugs typically trigger his joints to turn into stiff and immediate the event of corns, a sort of callus manufactured from useless pores and skin — which a health care provider in Bismarck freezes off.

“I am lucky I’ve obtained household round me so they assist me once I need assistance,” he mentioned.

Gullickson typically performs playing cards along with his buddies on the senior citizen middle, the Golden Age Membership.

One in every of his buddies, Sherry Cotton, mentioned she researched different dwelling coronary heart transplant sufferers. She hasn’t discovered one who has lived with a donated coronary heart so long as Gullickson.

“There was that girl who had two transplants. And he is solely had the one, after which there’s the opposite who’s had it for 34 years however he’s now handed, two of them at the moment are handed. That was the longest,” Cotton mentioned.

Gullickson is not certain if he’s “the oldest man on the block,” he mentioned. However one factor is for certain: He plans to proceed enjoying playing cards within the morning on the senior middle and luxuriate in its meals. And in the summertime, he plans to proceed bringing his tractor to reveals along with his son, Clark.

“I am simply going to maintain doing what I am doing,” he mentioned.