Louis Joshua Washkansky (12 April 1912 – 21 December 1967) was a South African man who was the recipient of the world's first human-to-human heart transplant, and the first patient to regain consciousness following the operation. Washkansky lived for 18 days and was able to speak with his wife and reporters. Washkansky was actually the second human recipient of a heart transplant overall, in that James Hardy had done a transplant in 1964 in which Boyd Rush received a chimpanzee's heart, although the patient in that case only survived an hour and did not regain consciousness. Biography Washkansky was a Lithuanian Jew, the youngest of the four children of Abe Washkansky and his wife, Chana Yentel Kemelgor. In 1912, when Washkansky was three months old, his father emigrated to South Africa without his family and started a business as a produce merchant. As a result of World War I and its aftermath, Chana and the children were not able to re-unite with Abe in Cape Town until 1923. Washkansky attended Cape Town High School, where he passed the standard eight, before entering the grocery business in Cape Town. He saw active service in World War II in East and North Africa and Italy. Washkansky was an avid sportsman. He took part in football, swimming, and weightlifting. Later on in life, he suffered heart problems and required a heart transplant. Medical background However, later in Washkansky's life his health declined substantially: he was diabetic, and had an incurable heart disease, causing him to suffer three heart attacks. The last of these heart attacks led to congestive heart failure. In April 1966, Washkansky visited Groote Schuur Hospital due to his pre-existing illness. He was first seen by Barry Kaplan, who in July 1966 had asked if Christiaan Barnard would be willing to attend Washkansky. Barnard had performed a number of laboratory tests and an in-depth examination on Washkansky and came to the conclusion that nothing could be done to help him. In January 1967, Washkansky was referred to Mervyn Gotsman, a cardiologist at the Cardiac Clinic in Groote Schuur Hospital, due to refractory heart failure. Washkansky underwent cardiac catheterisation confirming severe heart failure, and was subsequently referred to Barnard for possible surgery. Washkansky was re-admitted to Groote Schuur on 14 September 1967, which was also the Jewish New Year. As a result of heart attacks in 1965, approximately only one third of