Derrick Morris (24 March 1930 – 30 July 2005) was, at the time of his death, Europe's longest-surviving heart transplant recipient, living 25 years after the transplant performed by Sir Magdi Yacoub in 1980. He died from an illness that was not heart or transplant related. Morris had his first heart attack in 1975 and was told to expect to live only months. He became an active campaigner against heart disease, an advocate of organ donation as well as a symbol of the success of organ transplantation. Early life and illness Derrick Morris was born on 24 March 1930. He was from Swansea in Wales, and was working as a supervisor at Swansea Docks when he suffered his first heart attack in 1975. He was given only a 15% chance of survival, and was told to "live six months at a time". Heart surgery Morris was initially sceptical when a heart transplant was suggested but was persuaded by his doctor. He recalled, "we were told of the dangers. Because transplant work was in its infancy, the chances of survival were slim. But I decided for the family's sake to go ahead." His surgeon Magdi Yacoub later commented that Morris's transplant helped shape public opinion: "Most importantly, Derrick went on to show that transplantation was a good thing." The operation took place on 23 February 1980 at Harefield Hospital and was Yacoub's third such procedure and one of 14 performed at Harefield that year, following an initial moratorium on heart transplant procedures and before the introduction of cyclosporin. The procedure had been discontinued in 1973 due to poor results. The donor was a 26-year-old woman who had been killed in a car crash. After the operation, Morris eventually returned to work at the docks. He was the eleventh person in the UK to receive a heart transplant. It was argued that the cost of the operation was not money well spent because the National Health Service would have been better to spend it on preventing heart disease rather than doing transplants. Several people who had transplants at Harefield died while Morris was recovering. Morris's fate became intertwined with the largely transformative transplant success of Yacoub, who had an internal drive to perfect his craft, his team and their results. Later life By the 20th anniversary of his operation, Morris already held the European survival record. The longest heart transplant survivor in