Transplant recipients ‘inherit MEMORIES from donors including boy with fear of water after getting drowned girl’s heart’
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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.
![[Charlotte Carney, a student from the UK who had a heart transplant in 2019 for a life-threatening cardiac condition]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/student-undergone-heart-transplant-doctors-459245973.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
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.
![[Kevin Mashford, who found an enthusiasm for cycling after receiving a heart from a keen cyclist]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/9f7a48a4-af34-415f-bfd6-5ead3541abf1.jpg?strip=all&w=777)
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. 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.
![[To surgeons operating on a patient]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/NINTCHDBPICT000957185044.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
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.”.
![[Kevin Mashford found a passion for cycling after receiving a heart from a donor he knew to be a keen cyclist]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/father-given-new-lease-life-147995520.jpg?strip=all&w=640)
In 2002, doctors noted a transplant patient who seemed to inherit her donor’s last meal. 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.
