[by Dean Smith] Many look at the heart as little more than a muscle used to pump blood through our body, but evidence suggests it may have a bigger impact than we realize.

An article in the National Post looks at an interesting phenomena that happens when people have heart transplants. They actually sense the person who donated their heart.

Though it doesn’t happen to everyone, it occurs enough that medical researchers are taking note of the phenomena. As well, it doesn’t seem to show up with people who receive other types of transplants such as kidneys.

Researchers from Canada’s University Health Network studied this phenomena with recipients of heart transplants at Toronto hospitals and published their findings in the journal Health. During their five-year study, they interviewed 25 people who received heart transplants and discovered nine of the people surveyed said they believed the person who donated the heart was living on within them.

The following is a sampling of how they described their experience:

• “For a while, I felt as if there was an alien in my body … a foreign identity.”
• A 65-year-old woman, who received the heart of a 20-year-old man, started having visions of the man who donated the heart. She said, “I can even be alone, and I’m not alone. I feel the presence with me.”
• A teacher in her twenties said she felt like a stranger when she was with her friends. It was not that they were the strangers, but that she was.
• A 70-year old man believes he is a better person, because his donated heart came from someone who he considered better.
• Another said he would tell the family of the heart donor, “the person you lost is still living through me.”
• One said he was carrying the other person’s spirit.
• A woman who received the heart of a man struggled to have sex with her husband because of how she felt with the new heart.
• One woman said of her heart donor, “It’s like you’re in a little partnership.”

And even of those surveyed who looked upon the heart as simply a spare part, a number showed unusual emotions that suggested it was more than just a replacement part.

In total, the research teams said 15 of the 25 were emotionally affected by the transplant in an unusual way.

Lead researcher of the project, cardiologist Dr. Heather Ross believes there may be more going on in a heart transplant than simply replacing a “bio mechanical” device and that the heart links to a person’s consciousness.

The researchers suggested the phenomena is so common they recommended heart recipients go through counseling to help them deal with the transplant. There is even evidence a person’s emotional well-being around the transplant can impact the body’s rejection of the new heart and as well infection.

Bible on man’s heart

In the Bible, the heart was always considered more than just an internal organ as it is described in 2 Samuel 18:14. It along with the mind was looked upon as the seat of a person’s emotions and will. The heart was generally considered as representing a person’s inner being.

The heart experienced emotions such as joy (Isaiah 65:14), anxiety (Proverbs 12:25) and sorrow (Nehemiah 2:2). It was also man’s moral center. A person could have an evil (Proverbs 26:23) or godless (Job 36:13) heart. His heart could be deceitful (Proverbs 17:20).

And because of this, the prophets spoke of God giving a man a new heart (Ezekiel 18:31) and a clean heart (Psalm 51:10). The heart was also the place where the Spirit of God dwells (Ephesians 3:17; 2 Corinthians 1:22).

And though we have treated these as metaphorical expression, this study suggests there may be more to this than we realize.

 Read more:

• Heart transplant recipients can face serious distress from post-surgery identity issues, study suggests: National Post