I was given a young man's heart - and started craving beer and Kentucky Fried Chicken. [transplant]

Daily Mail ^ | April 9, 2008 | Claire Sylvia

[xjcsa]

Yesterday, the Mail told the extraordinary story of how a heart transplant recipient in America committed suicide - just like the man whose heart he had received 12 years previously. In another extraordinary twist, it emerged that the recipient had also married the donor's former wife.

So can elements of a person's character - or even their soul - be transplanted along with a heart?

One woman who believes this to be the case is CLAIRE SYLVIA, a divorced mother of one.

She was 47 and dying from a disease called primary pulmonary hypertension when, in 1988, she had a pioneering heartlung transplant in America.

She was given the organs of an 18-year-old boy who had been killed in a motorcycle accident near his home in Maine.

Claire, a former professional dancer, then made an astonishing discovery: she seemed to be acquiring the characteristics, and cravings, of the donor.

Here, in an extract from her book A Change Of Heart, Claire tells her remarkable story...

[weegee]

"Jerry, I SAW the Pig Man!!!"

[fightinJAG]

None of the documented cases were of patients who received brain transplants.

[mysterio]

That’s my point. The personality is centered in the brain, not the heart, kidneys, etc.

[dan1123]

Could be. I read elsewhere, about a year ago, that there is a school of thought that some thinking processes happen OUTSIDE THE BRAIN, in all different parts of your body. According to this theory, your brain is only the major center for most thinking.

I think there was a Discover magazine article about that a few years ago relating to higher emotions such as empathy. The general idea was that the brain uses the body for "simulations" in order to put the person "in someone else's shoes". It's also well known that when you think about moving, tiny signals are sent to the muscles that would move you even if you sit perfectly still. A crazy example of this is if you think to yourself in words or read silently to yourself, the brain sends signals to your vocal cords even if you don't move a muscle. This has already been exploited by Texas Instruments.

[fightinJAG]

*You* may think personality is centered in the brain, but the question is not open and shut.

Example.

[mysterio]

Apply for a grant and disprove established neurobiology. Until then, the personality is contained in the brain.

[fightinJAG]

And global warming also is “established.”

That’s hilarious.

If you haven’t noticed that keeping an open mind about scientific “concensus” is appropriate, I can’t help ya there.