On Dec. 3, 1967, Dr. Christiaan Barnard performed the world’s first successful human-to-human heart transplant in Groote Schuur Hospital, Capetown, South Africa. The patient, Louis Washkansky, was terminally ill from heart failure. This was a last-ditch effort to save his life. The new heart, tragically, came from a 25-year-old woman, Denise Darvall, who was fatally injured in a car accident. The surgery was a remarkably complex team effort led by Barnard. He became the face of this breakthrough, earning him a place on the cover of Time magazine and several TV and print interviews. Washkansky only survived for 18 days. He died from double pneumonia because the drugs used to suppress his immune system and keep his body from rejecting the new heart also reduced his ability to fight infections. Even though Washkansky only lived for 18 days, the surgery was a success. Four of Barnard’s first 10 heart transplant …