Organ Transplants and Cellular Memories

[Guest guest]

http://www.nexusmagazine.com/articles/CellularMemories.html

 

 

HOME | CURRENT ISSUE | BACK ISSUES | ARTICLES | SUBSCRIBE | PRODUCTS |

ADVERTISING | WHO, WHAT, WHERE | LINKS | COMMENTS | SURVEY

 

 

 

 

Organ Transplants and Cellular Memories

According to this study of patients who have received transplanted organs,

particularly hearts, it is not uncommon for memories, behaviours,

preferences and habits associated with the donor to be transferred to the

recipient.

 

--

 

Extracted from Nexus Magazine, Volume 12, Number 3 (April - May 2005)

PO Box 30, Mapleton Qld 4560 Australia. editor

Telephone: +61 (0)7 5442 9280; Fax: +61 (0)7 5442 9381

From our web page at: www.nexusmagazine.com

 

by Paul Pearsall, PhD

Gary E. Schwartz, PhD

Linda G. Russek, PhD

© 2002

 

Email: gschwart

 

 

--

 

If you wish to upset the law that all crows are black.it is enough if you

prove one single crow to be white.

- William James, MD

 

INTRODUCTION

It is generally assumed that learning involves primarily the nervous system

and secondarily the immune system. Hence, patients receiving peripheral

organ transplants should not experience personality changes that parallel

the personalities of donors they have never met. When personality changes

have been observed following transplants, the kinds of explanations

entertained include effects of the immunosuppressant drugs, psychosocial

stress, and pre-existing psychopathology of the recipients.1,2,3

However, living systems theory explicitly posits that all living cells

possess " memory " and " decider " functional subsystems within them.4 Moreover,

the recent integration of systems theory with the concept of energy (termed

dynamical energy systems theory) provides compelling logic that leads to the

prediction that all dynamical systems store information and energy to

various degrees.5,6,7 The systemic memory mechanism provides a plausible

explanation for the evolution of emergent (novel) systemic properties

through recurrent feedback interactions (i.e., the nonlinear circulation of

information and energy that reflects the ongoing interactions of the

components in a complex, dynamic network).

 

Recurrent feedback loops exist in all atomic, molecular and cellular

systems. Hence, evidence for atomic systemic memory, molecular systemic

memory and cellular systemic memory should be found in these systems.

The systemic memory mechanism has been applied to a variety of controversial

and seemingly anomalous observations in complementary and alternative

medicine, including homoeopathy.8 It also makes new predictions. One

prediction is that sensitive recipients of transplanted organs can

experience aspects of the donor's personal history stored in the

transplanted tissues.

In 1997, a book titled A Change of Heart was published that described the

apparent personality changes experienced by Claire Sylvia.9 Sylvia received

a heart and lung transplant at Yale-New Haven Hospital in 1988. She reported

noticing that various attitudes, habits and tastes changed following her

surgery. She had inexplicable cravings for foods she had previously

disliked. For example, though she was a health-conscious dancer and

choreographer, upon leaving the hospital she had an uncontrollable urge to

go to a Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet and order chicken nuggets, a food she

never ate. Sylvia found herself drawn toward cool colours and no longer

dressed in the bright reds and oranges she used to prefer. She began

behaving in an aggressive and impetuous manner that was uncharacteristic of

her but turned out to be similar to the personality of her donor.

Interestingly, uneaten Kentucky Fried Chicken nuggets were found in the

jacket of the young man (her donor) when he was killed.

 

Opinions about the plausibility of cellular memory were sought by William

Novak, the co-author of the book. Pearsall proposed that the

immunosuppressant drugs could conceivably lower the threshold for patients

to potentially register cellular memories stored in the transplanted organs

(cited in 9, extended in 10). Schwartz and Russek proposed that the

rejection process might not only reflect the rejection of the material

comprising the cells but also the systemic information and energy stored

within the cells as well (cited in 9, extended in 7, 8).

Sylvia was unique because she received a substantial amount of new tissue

(heart and lungs), she was health conscious and she was emotionally open and

sensitive. Schwartz and Russek proposed that Claire Sylvia might be the

" white crow " of cellular systemic memory.7

This paper reports key observations from 10 representative cases of

transplant recipients who were open to sharing experiences of personal

changes following their operations that are consistent with the systemic

memory prediction.

 

To protect the privacy of the donors' families, recipients and their

families, physicians and hospitals, donors and recipients are referred to by

number, except when their first names were mentioned by family members or

friends in the transcripts. All recipients and family members or friends of

the donors were interviewed by Pearsall and audiotaped. The transcripts were

examined by Schwartz and Russek and selected for inclusion in this report.

Each of the 10 cases includes a donor family member's report (or

equivalent), a recipient's report (or equivalent) and a recipient family

member's or friend's report. Donor family members, recipients and recipient

family members or friends are quoted directly from the transcripts. Personal

opinions (including controversial content) are reported verbatim. Each case

includes two to five sample parallels between the donors and changes

observed in the recipients post transplant surgery.

 

Case 1

The donor was an 18-year-old boy killed in an automobile accident. The

recipient was an 18-year-old girl diagnosed with endocarditis and subsequent

heart failure.

The donor's father, a psychiatrist, said:

" My son always wrote poetry. We had waited more than a year to clean out his

room after he died. We found a book of poems he had never shown us, and

we've never told anyone about them. One of them has left us shaken

emotionally and spiritually. It spoke of his seeing his own sudden death. He

was a musician, too, and we found a song he titled " Danny, My Heart Is

Yours " -the words about how my son felt he was destined to die and give his

heart to someone. He had decided to donate his organs when he was 12 years

old. We thought it was quite strong, but we thought they were talking about

it in school. When we met his recipient, we were so...we didn't know, like,

what it was. We don't know now. We just don't know. "

 

The recipient reported:

" When they showed me pictures of their son, I knew him directly. I would

have picked him out anywhere. He's in me. I know he is in me and he is in

love with me. He was always my lover, maybe in another time somewhere. How

could he know years before he died that he would die and give his heart to

me? How would he know my name is Danny? And then, when they played me some

of his music, I could finish the phrases of his songs. I could never play

before, but after my transplant I began to love music. I felt it in my

heart. My heart had to play it. I told my mom I wanted to take guitar

lessons-the same instrument Paul [the donor] had played. His song is in me.

I feel it a lot at night and it's like Paul is serenading me. "

 

The recipient's father reported:

" My daughter, she was what you say....a hell-raiser. Until she got sick-they

say from a dentist, they think-she was the wild one. Then she became quite

quiet. I think it was her illness, but she said she felt more energy, not

less. She said she wanted to play an instrument and she wanted to sing. When

she wrote her first song, she sang about her new heart as her lover's heart.

She said her lover had come to save her life. "

 

Case 2

The donor was a 16-month-old boy who drowned in a bathtub. The recipient was

a seven-month-old boy diagnosed with tetralogy of Fallot (a hole in the

ventricular septum with displacement of the aorta, pulmonary stenosis and

thickening of the right ventricle).The donor's mother, a physician, noted:

" The first thing is that I could more than hear Jerry's [donor's] heart. I

could feel it in me. When Carter [the recipient] first saw me, he ran to me

and pushed his nose against me and rubbed and rubbed it. It was just exactly

what we did with Jerry. Jerry and Carter's heart is five years old now, but

Carter's eyes were Jerry's eyes. When he hugged me, I could feel my son. I

mean I could feel him, not just symbolically. He was there. I felt his

energy.

" I'm a doctor. I'm trained to be a keen observer and have always been a

natural-born sceptic. But this was real. I know people will say that I need

to believe my son's spirit is alive, and perhaps I do. But I felt it. My

husband and my father felt it. And I swear to you, and you can ask my

mother, Carter said the same baby-talk words that Jerry said. Carter is six,

but he was talking Jerry's baby talk and playing with my nose just like

Jerry did.

" We stayed with the ... [recipient family] that night. In the middle of the

night, Carter came in and asked to sleep with my husband and me. He cuddled

up between us exactly like Jerry did, and we began to cry. Carter told us

not to cry because Jerry said everything was okay. My husband and I, our

parents and those who really knew Jerry have no doubt. Our son's heart

contains much of our son and beats in Carter's chest. On some level, our son

is still alive. "

 

The recipient's mother reported:

" I saw Carter go to her [donor's mother]. He never does that. He is very,

very shy, but he went to her just like he used to run to me when he was a

baby. When he whispered 'It's okay, mama', I broke down. He called her

'Mother', or maybe it was Jerry's heart talking. And one more thing that got

to us. We found out talking to Jerry's mom that Jerry had mild cerebral

palsy mostly on his left side. Carter has stiffness and some shaking on that

same side. He never did as a baby and it only showed up after the

transplant. The doctors say it's probably something to do with his medical

condition, but I really think there's more to it.

" One more thing I'd like to know about. When we went to church together,

Carter had never met Jerry's father. We came late and Jerry's dad was

sitting with a group of people in the middle of the congregation. Carter let

go of my hand and ran right to that man. He climbed on his lap, hugged him

and said 'Daddy'. We were flabbergasted. How could he have known him? Why

did he call him dad? He never did things like that. He would never let go of

my hand in church and never run to a stranger. When I asked him why he did

it, he said he didn't. He said Jerry did and he went with him. "

 

Case 3

The donor was a 24-year-old woman who was the victim of an automobile

accident. The recipient was a 25-year-old male graduate student suffering

from cystic fibrosis who received a heart-lung transplant.

The donor's sister reported:

" My sister was a very sensual person. Her one love was painting. She was on

her way to her first solo showing at a tiny art shop when a drunk ploughed

into her. It's a lesbian art store that supports gay artists. My sister was

not really very 'out' about it, but she was gay. She said her landscape

paintings were really representations of the mother or woman figure. She

would look at a naked woman model and paint a landscape from that! Can you

imagine? She was gifted. "

 

The recipient reported:

" I never told anyone at first, but I thought having a woman's heart would

make me gay. Since my surgery, I've been hornier than ever and women just

seem to look even more erotic and sensual, so I thought I might have gotten

internal transsexual surgery. My doctor told me it was just my new energy

and lease on life that made me feel that way, but I'm different. I know I'm

different. I make love like I know exactly how the woman's body feels and

responds-almost as if it is my body. I have the same body, but I still think

I've got a woman's way of thinking about sex now. "

 

The recipient's girlfriend said:

" He's a much better lover now. Of course, he was weaker before, but it's not

that. He's like, I mean, he just knows my body as well as I do. He wants to

cuddle, hold and take a lot of time. Before he was a good lover, but not

like this. It's just different. He wants to hug all the time and go

shopping. My God, he never wanted to shop! And you know what, he carries a

purse now. His purse! He slings it over his shoulder and calls it his bag,

but it's a purse. He hates it when I say that, but going to the mall with

him is like going with one of the girls. And one more thing, he loves to go

to museums. He would never, absolutely never, do that. Now he would go every

week. Sometimes he stands for minutes and looks at a painting without

talking. He loves landscapes and just stares. Sometimes I just leave him

there and come back later. "

 

Case 4

The donor was a 17-year-old black male student victim of a drive-by

shooting. The recipient was a 47-year-old white male foundry worker

diagnosed with aortic stenosis.

The donor's mother reported:

" Our son was walking to violin class when he was hit. Nobody knows where the

bullet came from, but it just hit him and he fell. He died right there on

the street, hugging his violin case. He loved music and his teachers said he

had a real thing for it. He would listen to music and play along with it. I

think he would have been at Carnegie Hall some day, but the other kids

always made fun of the music he liked. "

 

The recipient reported:

" I'm real sad and all for the guy who died and gave me his heart, but I

really have trouble with the fact that he was black. I'm not a racist, mind

you, not at all. Most of [my] friends at the plant are black guys. But the

idea that there is a black heart in a white body seems really...well, I

don't know. I told my wife that I thought my penis might grow to a black

man's size. They say black men have larger penises, but I don't know for

sure. After we have sex, I sometimes feel guilty because a black man made

love to my wife, but I don't really think that seriously.

" I can tell you one thing, though. I used to hate classical music, but now I

love it. So I know it's not my new heart, because a black guy from the 'hood

wouldn't be into that. Now it calms my heart. I play it all the time. I more

than like it. I didn't tell any of the guys on the line that I have a black

heart, but I think about it a lot. "

 

The recipient's wife reported:

" He was more than concerned about the idea when he heard it was a black

man's heart. He actually asked me if he could ask the doctor for a white

heart when one came up. He's no Archie Bunker, but he's close to it. And he

would kill me if he knew I told you this, but for the first time he's

invited his black friends over from work. It's like he doesn't see their

colour any more, even though he still talks about it sometimes. He seems

more comfortable and at ease with these black guys, but he's not aware of

it.

" And one more thing I should say. He's driving me nuts with the classical

music. He doesn't know the name of one song and never, never listened to it

before. Now, he sits for hours and listens to it. He even whistles classical

music songs that he could never know. How does he know them? You'd think

he'd like rap music or something because of his black heart. "

 

Case 5

The donor was a 19-year-old woman killed in an automobile accident. The

recipient was a 29-year-old woman diagnosed with cardiomyopathy secondary to

endocarditis.

The donor's mother reported:

" My Sara was the most loving girl. She owned and operated her own health

food restaurant and scolded me constantly about not being a vegetarian. She

was a great kid. Wild, but great. She was into the free-love thing and had a

different man in her life every few months. She was man crazy when she was a

little girl and it never stopped. She was able to write some notes to me

when she was dying. She was so out of it, but she kept saying how she could

feel the impact of the car hitting them. She said she could feel it going

through her body. "

 

The recipient reported:

" You can tell people about this if you want to, but it will make you sound

crazy. When I got my new heart, two things happened to me. First, almost

every night, and still sometimes now, I actually feel the accident my donor

had. I can feel the impact in my chest. It slams into me, but my doctor said

everything looks fine. Also, I hate meat now. I can't stand it. I was

McDonald's biggest money-maker, and now meat makes me throw up. Actually,

when I even smell it, my heart starts to race. But that's not the big deal.

My doctor said that's just due to my medicines.

" I couldn't tell him, but what really bothers me is that I'm engaged to be

married now. He's a great guy and we love each other. The sex is terrific.

The problem is, I'm gay. At least, I thought I was. After my transplant, I'm

not...I don't think, anyway...I'm sort of semi- or confused gay. Women still

seem attractive to me, but my boyfriend turns me on; women don't. I have

absolutely no desire to be with a woman. I think I got a gender transplant. "

 

The recipient's brother reported:

" Susie's straight now. I mean it seriously. She was gay and now her new

heart made her straight. She threw out all her books and stuff about gay

politics and never talks about it any more. She was really militant about it

before. She holds hands and cuddles with Steven just like my girlfriend does

with me. She talks girl-talk with my girlfriend, where before she would be

lecturing about the evils of sexist men. And my sister, the queen of the Big

Mac, hates meat. She won't even have it in the house. "

 

Case 6

The donor was a 14-year-old girl injured in a gymnastics accident. The

recipient was a 47-year-old man diagnosed with benign myxoma and

cardiomyopathy.

The donor's mother reported:

" Look at her [shows photograph]. My daughter was the picture of health.

There wasn't an ounce of fat on her. She was a gymnast and her coach could

lift her above his head with one hand. She was so excited about life that

she would just hop and jump all the time like a kitten. She had some trouble

with food, though. She would skip meals, and for a while she was purging. I

think they would call her a little anorexic. We took her to therapy about

it, but she just wasn't much into food. And she had this silly little giggle

when she got embarrassed. It sounded like a little bird. "

 

The recipient reported:

" I feel new again. I feel like a teenager. I actually feel giddy. I know

it's just the energy of the new heart, but I really feel younger in every

way, not just physically. I see the world that way. I'm really young at

heart. I have this annoying tendency to giggle that drives my wife nuts. And

there's something about food. I don't know what it is. I get hungry, but

after I eat I often feel nauseated and that it would help if I could throw

up. "

 

The recipient's brother reported:

" Gus is a teenager. No doubt about that. He's a kid or at least he thinks

he's a kid. Even when we're bowling, he yells and jumps around like a fool.

He's got this weird laugh now. It's a girl's laugh and we tell him that. He

doesn't care. His appetite never did bounce back after the surgery. He's

pretty much nauseated almost all the time. After Thanksgiving dinner-and he

loved it-he went upstairs and vomited. We took him to the emergency room,

but it wasn't anything to do with his new heart. They said it was probably a

reaction to something in the meal. None of the rest of the family got sick,

though. He's going to have to watch it. His doctor is concerned about his

weight. "

 

Case 7

The donor was a three-year-old girl who drowned in the family pool. The

recipient was a nine-year-old boy diagnosed with myocarditis and septal

defect.

The recipient's mother said:

" He [the recipient] doesn't know who his donor was or how she died. We do.

She drowned at her mother's boyfriend's house. Her mother and her boyfriend

left her with a teenage babysitter who was on the phone when it happened. I

never met her father, but the mother said they had a very ugly divorce and

that the father never saw his daughter. She said she worked a lot of hours

and wished she had spent more time with her. I think she feels pretty guilty

about it all...you know, the both of them sort of not appreciating their

daughter until it was too late. "

 

The recipient, who claimed not to know who the donor was, reported:

" I talk to her sometimes. I can feel her in there. She seems very sad. She

is very afraid. I tell her it's okay, but she is very afraid. She says she

wishes that parents wouldn't throw away their children. I don't know why she

would say that. "

 

The recipient's mother said about the recipient:

" Well, the one thing I notice most is that Jimmy is now deathly afraid of

the water. He loved it before. We live on a lake and he won't go out in the

backyard. He keeps closing and locking the back door. He says he's afraid of

the water and doesn't know why. He won't talk about it. "

 

Case 8

The donor was a 19-year-old woman who had suffered a broken neck in dance

class. The recipient was a 19-year-old woman diagnosed with cardiomyopathy.

The donor's mother reported:

" We've met Angela [the recipient], and she is the image of our daughter

[stacy]. They could almost be twins. They're both bright girls; I mean, my

daughter was bright, too. She wanted to be an actress, but we thought she

had too much academic potential for that. Her father is a doctor and really

wanted her to follow in his footsteps. "

 

The donor's father reported:

" Stacy was extremely bright. It's so tragic. She would have made an

outstanding physician, but she wanted to dance and sing. That's how she

died. She fell in dance class. We always argued good-naturedly about how

disappointed I would be if she went to Hollywood instead of Harvard. I hope

she knew I just wanted her to be happy. "

 

The recipient reported:

" I think of her as my sister. I think we must have been sisters in a former

life. I only know my donor was a girl my age, but it's more that that. I

talk to her at night or when I'm sad. I feel her answering me. I can feel it

in my chest. I put my left hand there and press it with my right. It's like

I can connect with her. Sometimes she seems sad. I think she wanted to be a

nurse or something, but other times it's like she wanted to be on Broadway.

I think she wanted to be on Broadway more. I want to be a nurse, but I could

be a doctor too. I hope she will be happy, because she will always be my

angel, my sister in my chest. I carry my angel with me everywhere. "

 

The recipient's mother reported:

" We can sometimes hear her talking to her heart. It's like a 'Dear diary'

thing. She puts her hand on her chest and talks to who she thinks her donor

is. Once we found her holding a stethoscope to her chest to try to hear her

new heart. I think she still does that sometimes. And the only other thing

is that she really wants to go to medical school now. She never wanted to do

that before, but that's because I don't think she thought she would live.

She's already changed her college classes. "

 

Case 9

The donor was a three-year-old boy who fell from an apartment window. The

recipient was a five-year-old boy with septal defect and cardiomyopathy.

The donor's mother reported:

" It was uncanny. When I met the family and Daryl [the recipient] at the

transplant meeting, I broke into tears. Then we went up to the giving tree

where you hand a token symbolising your donor. I was already crying when my

husband told me to look at the table we were passing. It was the donor

family with Daryl sitting there. I knew it right away. Daryl smiled at me

exactly like Timmy [the donor] did. After we talked for hours with Daryl's

parents, we were comforted. It somehow just didn't seem strange at all after

a while. When we heard that Daryl had made up the name Timmy and got his age

right, we began to cry. But they were tears of relief because we knew that

Timmy's spirit was alive. "

 

The recipient reported:

" I gave the boy a name. He's younger than me and I call him 'Timmy'. He's

just a little kid. He's a little brother like about half my age. He got hurt

bad when he fell down. He likes Power Rangers a lot, I think, just like I

used to. I don't like them anymore, though. I like Tim Allen on Tool Time,

so I called him Tim. I wonder where my old heart went, too. I sort of miss

it. It was broken, but it took care of me for a while. "

 

The recipient's father reported:

" Daryl never knew the name of his donor or his age. We didn't know either

until recently. We just learned that the boy who died had fallen from a

window. We didn't even know his age until now. Daryl had it about right.

Probably just a lucky guess or something, but he got it right. What is

spooky, though, is that he not only got the age right and some idea of how

he died, he got the name right. The boy's name was Thomas, but for some

reason his immediate family called him 'Tim'. "

 

The recipient's mother reported:

" Are you going to tell him the real twilight zone thing? Timmy fell trying

to reach a Power Ranger toy that had fallen on the ledge of the window.

Daryl won't even touch his Power Rangers any more... "

 

Case 10

The donor was a 34-year-old police officer shot attempting to arrest a drug

dealer. The recipient was a 56-year-old college professor diagnosed with

atherosclerosis and ischaemic heart disease.

The donor's wife reported:

" When I met Ben [the recipient] and Casey [ben's wife], I almost collapsed.

First, it was a remarkable feeling seeing the man with my husband's heart in

his chest. I think I could almost see Carl [the donor] in Ben's eyes. When I

asked how Ben felt, I think I was really trying to ask Carl how he was. I

wouldn't say that to them, but I wish I could have touched Ben's chest and

talked to my husband's heart.

" What really bothers me, though, is when Casey said offhandedly that the

only real side-effect of Ben's surgery was flashes of light in his face.

That's exactly how Carl died. The bastard shot him right in the face. The

last thing he must have seen is a terrible flash. They never caught the guy,

but they think they know who it is. I've seen the drawing of his face. The

guy has long hair, deep eyes, a beard, and this real calm look. He looks

sort of like some of the pictures of Jesus. "

 

The recipient reported:

" If you promise you won't tell anyone my name, I'll tell you what I've not

told any of my doctors. Only my wife knows. I only knew that my donor was a

34-year-old very healthy guy. A few weeks after I got my heart, I began to

have dreams. I would see a flash of light right in my face and my face gets

real, real hot. It actually burns. Just before that time, I would get a

glimpse of Jesus. I've had these dreams and now daydreams ever since: Jesus

and then a flash. That's the only thing I can say is something different,

other than feeling really good for the first time in my life. "

 

The recipient's wife reported:

" I'm very, very glad you asked him about his transplant. He is more bothered

than he'll tell you about these flashes. He says he sees Jesus and then a

blind flash. He told the doctors about the flashes but not Jesus. They said

it's probably a side effect of the medications, but God we wish they would

stop. "

 

DISCUSSION

The cases reported here are representative of more than 74 transplant

patients, 23 of whom were heart transplant recipients, that were brought to

Pearsall's attention over the past 10 years.10

Since the cases were collected sporadically and clinically, it is not

possible to calculate the percentage of patients who reported degrees of

personality changes that did or did not parallel the donors to various

degrees. The present report provides theoretical and empirical justification

for conducting a controlled comprehensive study.

Historically, transplant recipients have been reluctant to share such

experiences with their physicians (and in many cases, even with their

families and friends). Moreover, the prevailing belief that memories are

stored primarily in the nervous system (and secondarily in the immune

system) would decrease the likelihood that transplant recipients would be

open to receiving cellular memories from the transplanted organs in the

first place. The same belief would decrease the likelihood that family

members and friends, as well as surgeons and health care providers in

general, would be open to hearing from transplant recipients about cellular

memories. Hence, it is not possible to determine what the actual percentage

is of personality changes; underreporting appears to be the rule rather than

the exception.

 

Case 4 illustrates this point expressly. When a 47-year-old white male

foundry worker received the heart of a 17-year-old black male student, he

presumed that the black youth would prefer " rap " music. Hence, he dismissed

the idea that his new radical change in preference for classical music could

have come from the heart of the donor. However, unbeknownst to the

recipient, the donor actually loved classical music, and died " hugging his

violin case " on the way to his violin class.

Since completing this paper, Schwartz and Russek interviewed a patient of Dr

Copeland who received a heart transplant and experienced a large set of

personality changes. He received a woman's heart, and his many personality

changes include a passion for the colour pink (a colour he disliked prior to

surgery), and a preference for perfumes (which prior to his surgery he could

not tolerate and would not allow his wife to wear). He currently bathes in

and wears feminine fragrances.

His daughters tease him, and he is afraid to share these experiences with

his doctors. He shared them with Schwartz and Russek because he learned they

were open to these changes and would help him discover if they were related

to the donor (efforts are currently underway to contact the donor's family).

His case is interesting because he was pronounced dead twice and revived

prior to his transplant. He had a near-death experience that, according to

the patient and his wife, transformed him and led him to be more open.

 

Recipients may vary in their openness to receiving cellular information as

well as in their clarity in experiencing and reporting changes. One reviewer

of the manuscript asked: " Do recipients have any control over this? If all

recipients were open to it, would they all receive? " This is an important

question, one that can be addressed in future research. Theoretically, more

individuals should be able to retrieve information if they are encouraged to

be open and receive the information. Hypnosis could be considered as a

possible clinical research tool.

The cases reported here are unusual (but not unique) in that clear changes

were observed by recipients that were subsequently verified by recipient

family members or friends. Moreover, in each case, information about the

donors was specifically verified from donor family members or friends. In

each case, personal changes in the recipients preceded any contact with

donor family members or friends.

 

The recipients reported here would not receive psychiatric diagnoses. They

were not suffering from extreme depression or anxiety, though some reported

anxiety about their experiences. Case 10 illustrates this expressly. A

56-year-old college professor recipient experienced dreams not only of white

flashes in his face but just before the flash he sometimes " would get a

glimpse of Jesus " . Fearful of this potential hallucination and its possible

diagnostic significance, he did not share this information with his doctors

(though he did tell them about the flashes). The donor was a 34-year-old

police officer who was shot in the face while attempting to arrest a drug

dealer. According to the donor's wife: " They never caught the guy, but they

think they know who it is. I've seen the drawing of his face. The guy has

long hair, deep eyes, a beard, and this real calm look. He looks sort of

like some of the pictures of Jesus. "

 

Can such reports be explained by statistical coincidence? The parallels in

names reported in cases 1, 8 and 9 could potentially be explained as

coincidences. In case 9, for example, the young recipient's choice of the

name Tim (for the donor he never met) may have been related to his personal

preference.

The recipient stated: " I like Tim Allen on Tool Time, so I called him Tim. "

However, the statistical coincidence explanation is strained by the

observation of this recipient's perception: " He [the donor] likes Power

Rangers a lot, I think, just like I used to. I don't like them any more,

though. " The donor purportedly died " trying to reach a Power Ranger toy that

had fallen on the ledge of the window " . The findings spanning the 10 cases

appear too coincidental to be accidental (the statistical coincidence

hypothesis).

 

Future research is necessary to investigate the recipient-donor coincidence

phenomenon systematically. Research is underway at the University of Arizona

on a sample of over 300 transplant patients to estimate the incidence of

such coincidences using semi-structured interviews and systematic questions.

In addition, a subset of the transplant patients is being monitored

physiologically to examine biophysical measures of heart-brain synchrony.11

The research is testing predictions derived from dynamical energy systems

theory applied to the heart. Termed " energy cardiology " , the basic

hypothesis is that information and energy are transmitted

electromagnetically between the brain and heart, and that through

electromagnetic resonance the brain may process information derived from the

donor's heart.12 Other forms of energetic communication are also plausible

and should be considered in future research.13

Pearsall has informally observed that in addition to heart recipients,

kidney, liver and other organ recipients also indicated changes in sense of

smell, food preference and emotional factors. However, they were usually

transitory and could be associated with medications and other factors of

transplantation.10

The findings for heart transplants appear more robust and were more strongly

associated with the donor's history. If this observation is verified in

future research, the implications for basic physiology as well as clinical

medicine could be substantial.

 

Pearsall became open to the possibility of cellular memory in transplant

recipients partly because of his own bone marrow transplant in 1987, and

also because of his Hawaiian heritage that has always valued the heart as

being a " thinking, feeling, communicating, and spiritual organ " .10

Schwartz and Russek became open to the possibility of cellular memory partly

through Schwartz's discovery of the systemic memory logic in the early 1980s

when he was a professor of psychology and psychiatry at Yale

University,5,6,7 and partly through the evolution of dynamical energy

systems theory in the mid-1990s as applied to the heart by Russek and

Schwartz.12, 14

However, systemic memory is only one possible cellular memory mechanism.

Other mechanisms (e.g., microtubule memory, which may also involve the

systemic memory process) should be considered.15

If future research documents evidence for cellular memory in transplant

patients, the theoretical, clinical and ethical implications are vast.16

The present findings are reported in the hope that they will stimulate

future research to examine the hypothesis seriously. ?

 

Authors' Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the families of the donors, the recipients and the families

of the recipients who bravely shared their stories and graciously agreed to

have them reported.

The 10 heart transplant cases reported here come from a total sample of 74

transplant recipients (23 were heart transplants), all of whom showed

various degrees of changes that paralleled the personalities of their

donors. We thank the anonymous reviewers of this manuscript for their

constructive feedback. We dedicate this paper to the memories of donors and

to the memories of Frank Pearsall, Howard Schwartz and Henry I. Russek,

MD-our fathers.

 

About the Authors:

.. Paul Pearsall, PhD, is a Clinical Professor at the Department of Nursing,

University of Hawaii. He is the author of over 200 professional articles and

15 international best-selling books including The Heart's Code (Broadway

Books, 1998).

.. Gary E. Schwartz, PhD, is Professor of Psychology, Surgery, Medicine,

Neurology and Psychiatry at the University of Arizona. He is also Director

of the Center for Frontier Medicine in Biofield Science and Director of the

Human Energy Systems Laboratory, both at the University of Arizona. He is

the co-author (with Linda Russek) of The Living Energy Universe (Hampton

Roads Publishing, 1999, soon to be re-released; reviewed in NEXUS 7/04), and

co-author (with William L. Simon) of The Afterlife Experiments (Pocket

Books, 2002; reviewed in NEXUS 9/04) and The G.O.D. Experiments (Atria

Books, 2006).

 

.. Linda G. Russek, PhD, is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at

the University of Arizona and Director of The Heart Science Laboratory of

The Heart Science Foundation in Tucson, Arizona.

She has co-authored more than 40 papers as well as the book, The Living

Energy Universe (with Dr Gary Schwartz; see above).

 

Editor's Note:

This article was originally published under the title " Changes in Heart

Transplant Recipients that Parallel the Personalities of their Donors " in

the Journal of Near-Death Studies, vol. 20, no. 3, Spring 2002.

For further information in connection with this article, contact Dr Gary E.

Schwartz, Professor of Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of

Arizona, Box 210068, Tucson, AZ 85721-0068, USA, telephone (520) 318 0286,

email gschwart. Also see websites

http://www.biofield.arizona.edu, http://veritas.arizona.edu and

http://www.openmindsciences.com.

 

Endnotes

1. Lunde DT. Psychiatric complications of heart transplants. Am J Psychiatry

1967; 124:1190-1195.

2. Kuhn WF et al. Psychopathology in heart transplant candidates. J Heart

Transplants 1988; 7:223-226.

3. Mai FM. Graft and donor denial in heart transplant recipients. Am J

Psychiatry 1986; 143:1159-1161.

4. Miller JG. Living Systems. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1978.

5. Schwartz GE, Russek LG. Dynamical energy systems and modern physics:

Fostering the science and spirit of complimentary and alternative medicine.

Alter Therapies Health Med 1997; 3(3):46-56.

6. Schwartz GE, Russek LG. Do all dynamical systems have memory?

Implications of the systemic memory hypothesis for science and society. In

KH Pribram (ed.). Brain and Values: Is a Biological Science of Values

Possible? Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1998.

7. Schwartz GER, Russek LGS. The origin of holism and memory in nature: The

systemic memory hypothesis. Frontier Perspectives 1998; 7(2):23-30.

8. Schwartz GER, Russek LGS. The plausibility of homeopathy: The systemic

memory mechanism. Integrative Med 1998; 1(2):53-60.

9. Sylvia C, with Novak W. A Change of Heart. New York, NY: Little, Brown,

1997.

10. Pearsall P. The Heart's Code. New York, NY: Broadway Books, 1998.

11. Song LZYX, Schwartz GER, Russek LGS. Heart-focused attention and

heart-brain synchronization: Energetic and physiological mechanisms. Alter

Therapies Health Med 1998; 4(5):44-63.

12. Russek LG, Schwartz GE. Energy cardiology: A dynamical energy systems

approach for integrating conventional and alternative medicine. Advances. J

Mind-Body Health 1996; 12(4):4-24.

13. Tiller WA. Science and Human Transformation: Subtle Energies,

Intentionality and Consciousness. Walnut Creek, CA: Pavior, 1997.

14. Russek LR, Schwartz GE. Interpersonal heart-brain registration and the

perception of parental love: A 42-year follow-up of the Harvard Mastery of

Stress study. Subtle Energies 1994; 5(3):195-208.

15. Hameroff SR, Penrose R. Orchestrated reduction of quantum coherence in

brain microtubules: A model for consciousness. In SR Hameroff, AW Kaszniak,

AC Scott (eds). Toward a Science of Consciousness. Cambridge, MA: The MIT

Press, 1996.

16. Schwartz GER, Russek, LGS. The Living Energy Universe. Charlottesville,

VA: Hampton Roads Publishing, 1999.

 

 

 

NEXUS ARTICLES, BOOKS, SUBS, ADS & VIDEOS