RESEARCH TEXT: A Change of Heart, Claire Sylvia and Bill Novak.

Claire Sylvia, who was afflicted with a primary pulmonary hypertension disease ,underwent a heart-lung transplant in 1988.The operation  was performed by doctor Baldwin at Yale hospital in New Haven in Connecticut .Her donor was an eighteen-year-old boy from Maine ,who had had a motorcycle accident . When his organs were removed, he was being maintained on a ventilator, which breathed for him; his heart, however, was still beating on its own.

Information drawn from the research text (Chapter 1 page 5; Chapter 3 page 38; Chapter 6 page 80; Chapter 7 pages 84, 96, 97)

We have textually taken from Claire Sylvia’s book a number of paragraphs that describe the changes she has experienced related to her donor's energy. Besides feeling his presence as another soul sharing her body, she had vivid and accurate dreams about him, whom she had never known. She also had changes in her food preferences, in her dancing style, in her way of walking, etc.These changes she took on after her transplant correlate with her donor’s way of living; a fact corroborated by his relatives.

Claire Sylvia’s changes match up with other recipients´ accounts of their post-transplant experiences .These events, being the rule, not the exception to organ recipients, are not elucidated by scientists, who are unable to provide any satisfactory explanation for these occurrences because the scientific world targets at the physical and not at the spiritual field.

ORGAN RECIPIENT CLAIRE SYLVIA FEELS HER DECEASED DONOR’S PRESENCE

AS A  SOUL OR A SPIRIT

 “Before long, I began to feel that I had received more than just new body parts. I began to wonder if my transplanted heart and lungs had somehow arrived with some of their own inclinations and memories. I had dreams and experienced changes that seemed to suggest that some aspects of my donor’s spirit and personality now existed within me.” (Chapter 1 page 6)

“Although I couldn’t yet put this idea into words, I now believe that what made me so confused and disoriented during my early days in the ICU were the first stirrings of another presence within me. I would have the feeling that some aspects of my donor's personality existed within me.” (Chapter 8 page 114)

“My new heart did seem to be affecting my personality. I noticed that no longer I felt lonely, even when I was by myself. On weekdays, when I was separated from Amara and my friends, I didn’t miss them much. Sometimes I had the feeling that somebody else was in there with me, that in some intangible way, my sense of  “I”  had become a kind of “we”. Although I couldn’t always detect this extra presence, at times it almost felt as if a second soul were sharing my body.” (Chapter 9 page 131)

“It wasn’t my old self who had dragged me here, but the youthful energy of my now twenty -year-old heart and lungs. In France, more than ever before, I felt as if I were two people who were sharing the same body.” (Chapter 12 page 193)

“How shocking it must have been for Tim’s heart and lungs-and whatever parts of Tim’s spirit that might have come along with them-to wake up in the body of a middle-aged woman. Was I crazy, or were my dreams and my changes suggesting that the human heart was more than a mechanical pump?” (Chapter 12 page 196)

“But now Robbie was forced to consider what had long seemed clear to me- not only that there was a “real” Tim, but that some aspects of him might exist within me. As Robbie wrote:

“I feel a change of viewpoint taking place. My vehement attachment to the psychological point of view about “Tim” is loosening up as Claire comes closer to her desire to meet Tim’s family. I am beginning to believe that some of Tim’s essence has transmigrated to Claire. As a professional therapist, I know that vigor and resilience are part of character, temperament, and identity. If the transplant has somehow passed on elements of his temperament, personality, and identity, then psychological residues of the actual Tim L (not just the image of “Tim”) may now inhabit Claire”(Chapter 13 pages 201-202)

Robert Bosnak (Robbie) – A Jungian analyst at the Jung Institute in Boston.

A RECIPIENT’S ACCOUNT

“Dr.Pearsall’s interest in this subject began after his own transplant. A fellow patient, who was also undergoing his own bone narrow transplant, insisted that he could feel the presence of his donor. Dr Pearsall asked the man what he thought the donor was like.

“Some kind of artist,” he replied. “Maybe a painter or a musician.”

Later the patient was informed that his donor’s hobby was oil painting. (Chapter 17 page 261)

Dr. Pearsall is the author of the book called The Heart’s Code, ISBN 84-414-0467-4.

INFLUENCE OF THE DECEASED ORGAN DONOR TIM AS A SOUL OR A SPIRIT UPON

 RECIPIENT CLAIRE SYLVIA, WHO TAKES ON HIS SAME FOOD PREFERENCES

 The organ recipient Claire Sylvia claims to have cravings for new foods that coincide with her donor’s (Tim L’s) food preferences. The donor’s relatives confirmed this coincidence. 

“Was he a beer drinker?” I asked.

His sisters nodded.

“When I told them how I wanted a beer  soon after the operation, there were smiles all around.”

“I asked if he liked green peppers.”

“Are you kidding?” “He loved them,” a sister told me.

“He used to fry them up with a whole kielbasa sausage.”

I explained that I never liked sausages before the transplant.

“But what really liked was chicken nuggets,” said Annie

“Oh, my God!”

“What is it, Claire?”

“I just remembered something I’ve never told anyone. After the transplant, when I was finally allowed to drive again, the first place I went to was Kentucky Fried Chicken. I had this craving for chicken nuggets, which I’d never had before.” (Chapter14 pages 225-226)

“I had just learned that many of the dreams, images, and hunches I’d had about my donor matched up closely with what his loved ones knew about him.” (Chapter 15 page 232)

THE DONOR’S PARENTS WERE INTERVIEWED IN 1991

“Do you believe,” the reporter asked, “that in some way Claire picked up part of Tim’s spirit?”June (Tim’s mother): Yes, I believe it. When she told us about the foods, this was a shock. My daughter said, “Ma, I can’t believe it .That’s the same stuff Timmy liked.”

Carl (Tim’s father): “His spirit is still there in those parts she received.”   (Chapter 15 page 240)

MENTAL INFLUENCE OF THE ORGAN DONOR (DECEASED TIM L.) AS A SOUL OR A SPIRIT UPON RECIPIENT CLAIRE SYLVIA

The recipient’s thoughts and the donor’s mingle together; and so the donor as a soul or a spirit expresses his own self through the recipient. The donor’s relatives confirm this fact.

A SISTER OF THE DONOR’S IS INTERVIEWED ON A TV SHOW

“When we met Claire,” said Carla, “we all probed her and asked her questions. It was like she knew Timmy. A lot of things she said were true. How would she know these things? Everything she was saying was right. It was like him, like she was part of him.” (Chapter 15 pages 241-242)

“Why do recipients have the memories of a donor they never knew, and whom we can sometimes identify?” (Chapter 18 page 275)

THE ACCOUNTS OF ORGAN RECIPIENTS MENTAL INFLUENCE OF THE DECEASED DONOR (A SOUL OR A SPIRIT) UPON THE RECIPIENT (A PERSON)

“The day will come, I expect, when cases like mine will be studied in a systematic way. Until then, we will have to do with anecdotal evidence.

“A transplant nurse in Florida told us about a heart transplant patient who, before her operation, had suffered from an extreme fear of water- a fear so debilitating that she wouldn’t take a shower. Soon after her transplant, the same woman felt a great desire to go swimming and sailing. A surgical resident, who wasn’t authorized to disclose this information, informed the woman’s incredulous family that her donor had been an avid sailor who died in a boating accident.

This same nurse also told us about a middle-aged man who received a new heart from a young donor who was killed in a motorcycle accident. The recipient, a born-again Christian, woke up from the operation cursing and swearing, which was completely out of character.  Because the donor had died at the same hospital where the transplant was performed, the donor’s mother ended up meeting the recipient. She confirmed that the man was speaking just like her son, and was even using some of the same mannerisms.” (Chapter 17 page 262)

 “A number of physicians come to our institute, and over the years I’ve heard other stories like this. One cardiac surgeon told me that he has observed this phenomenon, which includes personality changes and cravings for new foods, and that it usually fades a few months after the transplant. It’s not something surgeons want publicized, and they keep it very quiet.” (Chapter 18 page 276) 

MENTAL AND PHYSICAL INFLUENCE OF THE ORGAN DONOR (TIM L. – DECEASED) AS A SOUL OR A SPIRIT UPON RECIPIENT CLAIRE SYLVIA

Claire Sylvia says that she has gained some knowledge about certain subjects she did not know before her transplant, which reflects mental influence, while, her new way of walking, the same as her donor’s, demonstrates physical influence.

“My personality was changing, too, and becoming more masculine. I was more aggressive and more assertive than I used to be, and more confident as well. I felt I knew things that men knew, things I hadn’t known as a woman and that seemed to have come to me from some other place. It was a subtle feeling, as though I’d been entrusted with some secret knowledge that I didn’t completely understand.”

“Even my walk became more masculine. “Mom,” said Amara, “why are you walking like that? You are kind of lumbering, like a football player.”

“Then a dance friend said, “Claire, you’re really strutting.” It was, I realized, the stride of a virile young man…”

“Whatever was going on with this masculine energy, it wasn’t limited to my walk. Or perhaps my knew walk was a metaphor for the way I now was moving through the world without feeling restricted. I felt a new power that I associated with masculinity, strength, and vibrancy.” (Chapter 9, page 132)

SUPPORT GROUP MEETINGS. RECIPIENTS’ ACCOUNTS

“Another theme in our conversation was that all of us had some sense after the transplant that we were not alone. And each of us had at some point spontaneously experienced our new heart as an “other” with whom some form of communication was taking place. In a couple of cases, this sense of being with another person was so strong that the recipients became obsessed with learning the donor’s identity.”

“With other participants, the feelings of another presence within were more diffuse and took the form of people talking to their new hearts directly, and sometimes even loud, during moments of crisis.” (Chapter 11 page 166)

“Only one participant, a social worker named Mary, claimed that she never experienced her new heart as “other”. But within the confines of our tight circle, Mary spoke movingly about how, when she experienced an episode of rejection shortly after her transplant, an image came to her of two spirits who were fighting inside her body. “One of them was me,” she said, “and the other, I guess, was the donor, who didn’t want me to have this heart. I know my new heart came from a woman, and this struggle between us felt like a catfight.” (Chapter 11 page 167)

“Sometimes I think about this person whose heart I have,” he said, “but I have to put it out of my mind because it scares me.”….

  “I won’t go so far as to say that two people exist in me, but I have been changed. It might be different if I had received a new kidney, but the heart has spiritual, psychological, and emotional attachments. I believe my donor‘s spirit is still around, and in that sense he’s still alive.” (Chapter 11 page 169)

“About a year after his transplant, Mario had an experience that really shook him up. He and his wife were visiting relatives in the Boston area, and on Easter Sunday they walked into a little church where, to his astonishment, Mario felt completely at home. Even the priest looked familiar, and Mario instinctively knew his way around. He led his wife upstairs to a certain pew, as if he had been there often.

“Have we ever been to this church?” he asked her.

“Never,” she replied.

“Well, I have,” he said.

“I never knew what part of Boston my guy was from,” Mario told us, “but that morning I had no doubt that this was his church.” Mario found the experience so unsettling that he returned to the little church three more times until he felt comfortable. “I believe there’s another spirit in me,” he concluded, “and that we finally bonded together and somehow made a life for both of us.”

Mario was especially grateful to Robbie for helping him deal with a disturbing image that kept haunting him. Ever since the transplant, Mario sometimes saw the image of a face suspended just below the ceiling. After one of our meetings, Robbie met privately with Mario and asked him to bring the face into view. When it appeared, Robbie guided Mario in bringing the image down, closer and closer to his own face, until the two faces seemed to merge. After this, the mysterious face made no further appearances, and Mario felt that he had fully integrated the new organ into his body.” (Chapter 11 page 171)

OTHER OPINIONS

Deepak Chopra is among those who seem to assume an enhanced understanding of cellular memory. In one of his popular books, he reports that some transplant patients, after receiving a new kidney, liver, or heart, begin to participate in their donors’ memories. “Associations that belong to another person start being released when that person‘s tissues are placed inside a stranger.” (Chapter 18 page 269)

 According to Gary E. Schwartz, Ph.D., professor of psychology, neurology, and psychiatry, and director of the Human Energy Systems Laboratory at the University of Arizona, and his colleague, Dr. Linda G. Russek:

“Systematic memory predicts that all transplant patients register stored information and energy from the donor’s tissues-certainly unconsciously, and sometimes consciously. In our view, the problem of organ rejection involves not only the rejection of the material of the cells, but also the information and energy stored within the cells and molecules.” (Chapter 18 page 277)