Song Shuihong, 47, has become a record-breaker in Asia for still being alive nearly 20 months after having a heart-kidney transplant operation.
The former record holder in this region lived for less than 100 days.
A villager from Pingyao Town of Yuhang District of Hangzhou, the capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, Song was found suffering from kidney disease in 1997. In 2001, he was diagnosed with terminal heart disease. Doctors told him only a heart-kidney joint transplant operation could save his life.
On April 27, 2001, Song successfully underwent surgery, and thanks to the careful care from both doctors and nurses, he has recovered with no rejection and obvious infection.
Song now works all day as chairman of the Mini-bus Passenger Transport Association in Yuhang, and nobody knows he is a heart-and-kidney transplant recipient.
He says he feels healthy and is confident of his future. A common cold has been the only illness he has suffered since the operation.
Song's survival record has caught the attention of doctors and experts in China. A scientific research program on heart and kidney joint transplant has been checked and accepted by a medical team of experts.
(Xinhua News Agency January 10, 2003)
