Transplant recipients ‘inherit MEMORIES from donors including boy with fear of water after getting drowned girl’s heart’
PEOPLE who received organ transplants have been reporting strange changes to their personality - and it could be because they inherit donor’s memories.
Patients who get a new organ have shown a pattern of changing emotions, tastes and memories.
The phenomenon has been seen most in heart transplant patients, but those who received kidneys, lungs and even faces have also noticed changes in themselves.
The transplants can lead to changes in food preferences, music taste and even sexuality - but researchers say more work is needed to fully understand why.
In some cases, the new characteristics mirror those of the donor, leading experts to question whether the changes are due to a transfer of memories through the organs.
In one unbelievable example, a nine-year-old boy received a heart from a three-year-old girl who drowned in her family’s pool.
READ MORE IN SCIENCE
The boy had no idea how his donor had died, but his mum reported that he became “deathly afraid of water” - apparently a reaction to the girl’s drowning.
In another case, a college professor who received a heart from a police officer who died after being shot in the face reported seeing a “flash of light” right in front of his eyes, like a gun discharging.
He said: “My face gets real, real hot. It actually burns.”
In 2002, doctors noted a transplant patient who seemed to inherit her donor’s last meal.
Most read in Science
Researchers wrote: “She was a health conscious dancer and choreographer, upon leaving the hospital she had an uncontrollable urge to go to a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant and order chicken nuggets, a food she never ate.
“'Interestingly, uneaten Kentucky Fried Chicken nuggets were found in the jacket of the young man when he was killed.
A shift in sexuality was reported in a gay man who received the heart of a lesbian artist - he reportedly became more attracted to women.
There is increasing evidence this eerie pattern could be because the heart and brain are fundamentally linked, as the heart contains neurons and cells similar to the brain.
Another explanation is that transplants alter genes that control traits, and make them express themselves differently.
A 2024 research paper wrote: “Emerging evidence suggests that heart transplantation may involve the transfer of the donor’s personality traits and memories to the recipient, challenging conventional views of memory and identity.
“Additionally, the heart’s neural network and bidirectional communication with the brain support the concept of heart-brain connection in memory and personality.”
Many experts, however, are dubious that personalities are actually changing, and believe the experiences may be a psychological reaction to major surgery and near-deadly heart conditions.
Experts at McGill University, Canada have suggested that the results may be due to medications the patients take as part of the transplant procedure.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
For example, the said immunosuppressants can suppress appetite, which could lead to a seemingly different relationship with food.
Other researchers believe the changes could be a placebo effect, caused by patients going into surgery concerned about inheriting the donor’s personality, and then subconsciously changing their behaviour to fulfil the change.
Transplant patient inherits donor's cycling obsession
Patrick Harrington
Kevin Mashford was born with a heart condition and, at the age of 38, needed a heart transplant.
The surgery was a success, but all Kevin knew about his donor was his name - John - and that he was a keen cyclist.
Kevin, on the other hand, had barely ridden a bike in his life.
Seven days after the transplant operation, Kevin asked physiotherapists to bring him an exercise bike, and he started cycling seven minutes every day.
Eight weeks after being discharged Kevin, then 38, bought himself a road bike.
In 2015, Kevin undertook a mammoth 342-mile charity bike ride to raise money in his donor's name.
Kevin thinks his new enthusiasm for cycling is founded on "a big sense of responsibility to [his] donor and his family," rather than inheriting a part of his donor's personality.
