Person with Longest Lasting Mechanical Valve

[Lisa from LJ]

My brother and I were discussing the person with the longest lasting mechanical valve. He has had the same aortic valve since 1993 and I've had the same mitral valve since 1998. The reason for our valves was totally unrelated - his congenital and mine Rheumatic Fever.

I remembered Robert Brown who used to be a member on this site as he's in the Guinness Book of World Records, but his record was longest surviving valve recipient and his longest lasting valve was his 3rd aortic valve and lasted from 1982-2016, when he passed away at 67. Prior to that, he had mechanical aortic valves in 1960 and 1964 and then later had a mechanical mitral valve.

After ruling him out, I remembered Dick0236 from this page and found that he recently reported that he has had the same mechanical aortic valve for 57 years now, since 1967. About the same time, my brother discovered the Guinness World Record is held by Elizabeth Cameron in the UK who got a mechanical mitral valve in 1969. She was still alive as of 2023.

Dick, it seems like you should hold the record. Have you applied?

 

[Chuck C]

I'll let @dick0236 give you his answer, but he is the world record holder for longest lasting mechanical valve. It would be great to see him recognized by Guinness, but there is a documentation issue.

 

[Lisa from LJ]

I'll let @dick0236 give you his answer, but he is the world record holder for longest lasting mechanical valve. It would be great to see him recognized by Guinness, but there is a documentation issue.

Thanks. It seems that if he can get the documentation issue cleared up, he could be both the longest with the same valve and the longest surviving as Robert survived "only" 56 years after his first mechanical valve replacement.

 

[Chuck C]

Thanks. It seems that if he can get the documentation issue cleared up, he could be both the longest with the same valve and the longest surviving as Robert survived "only" 56 years after his first mechanical valve replacement.

Dick is a very humble man and, from comments he has made in the past on the subject, I don't believe getting the recognition is a big deal to him.

I find @dick0236 's story very inspiring and I know that most others in the valve surgery world feel the same. I think his story is especially encouraging to young patients who often have great fear that this condition will change their life and drastically shorten it. Dick is now 89 and is on year 57 of his valve, so clearly we all have the opportunity to live a very long time after our surgeries.

If he ever does decide to try again with Guinness, and a way can be figured out to document the date of his surgery, his story could get a lot of media attention, which could potentially reach thousands of valve patients out there who might not even know about his story or our forum. I think this would be a positive thing, because anyone who hears his story cannot help but be inspired by it.

 

[dick0236]

Dick is a very humble man and, from comments he has made in the past on the subject, I don't believe getting the recognition is a big deal to him.

I find @dick0236 's story very inspiring and I know that most others in the valve surgery world feel the same. I think his story is especially encouraging to young patients who often have great fear that this condition will change their life and drastically shorten it. Dick is now 89 and is on year 57 of his valve, so clearly we all have the opportunity to live a very long time after our surgeries.

Thanks Lisa and Chuck. I think my wife of 68 years might have an issue with......"a very humble man" LOL.

I was lucky to find this forum in 2007, shortly after getting a computer. One of the first things I noticed was the fear of survival and quality of life after OHS. I remembered my fears after surgery......with very few, if any, resources for dealing with an "artificial heart valve". When I found VR.org I was already a forty year veteran of OHS....but have learned a great deal about living with my valve.......and I am just "paying it forward".

As for Guinness........I have a grandson-in-law, Darren Manning, who holds a current Guinness record for "driving a car 100 mph....in reverse......and yes, they had to modify the transmission to allow for such a speed. That, to me, is the kind of stunt that belongs in Guinness.......or the guy, in India, with the longest fingernails (there is a picture of him with his fingernails spread out on a table. I wonder how he could feed himself......or perform more personal duties.

 

[Lisa from LJ]

As for Guinness........I have a grandson-in-law, Darren Manning, who holds a current Guinness record for "driving a car 100 mph....in reverse......and yes, they had to modify the transmission to allow for such a speed. That, to me, is the kind of stunt that belongs in Guinness.......or the guy, in India, with the longest fingernails (there is a picture of him with his fingernails spread out on a table. I wonder how he could feed himself......or perform more personal duties.

I've seen those fingernails! Yuck!

I'm big into accurate statistics and feel like we do a horrendous job of it in this country and the rest of the world. Think about all those people who died "of" COVID when they actually died "with" COVID. When I joined this group in about 1999 prior to vr.com, it was a chat group. I found it because I was looking for information on pericarditis and pericardial effusion after my July, 1998 surgery that would recur every time they'd wean me from Prednisone. My doctors and the statistics were telling me it was very rare, but then I found this group, and even though it was small, there were enough people who've had it to show it wasn't really rare at all, especially for those who had MVR. The misconception is because it's not reported, just like mine wasn't, unless it results in a hospital stay or surgical procedure.

It's obviously up to you to decide how much of your life you want out there, but it seems to me that people all over the world would be interested to know that a mechanical valve can truly last 57 years or more. After I posted this, I found other posts about the same thing and even though Chris is saying it's a documentation issue, in on post, you said it wasn't worth the $800 that it would cost. Perhaps we can set up a gofundme for those in this group to contribute!

 

[dick0236]

I've seen those fingernails! Yuck!

........ Perhaps we can set up a gofundme for those in this group to contribute!

Please, NO go fund me account.

When I first applied to Guinness I was in the middle of gathering info to give to Edwards Lifesciences Inc.(they produced the valve I have). I was attempting to get an ID card, which the valve manufacturer didn't provide in the 1960's. I also suggested to Edwards, that they might be interested in my story of the longevity of their valve. They weren't interested since, by then, they had abandoned the mechanical valve in favor of the more lucrative tissue valve.....oh well!

BTW, Guinness is a good place to post "weird and unusual" accomplishments, but I think it is counterproductive to include OHS in that grouping.

 

[Chuck C]

I also suggested to Edwards, that they might be interested in my story of the longevity of their valve. They weren't interested since, by then, they had abandoned the mechanical valve in favor of the more lucrative tissue valve.....oh well!

It is absolutely true that Edwards abandoned the mechanical valve. A one and done customer is not good for business. I do wish that they cared about your story, but the profit motive is hard to overcome. They would clearly rather spend their energy trying to get young patients to get tissue valves, which gives bigger revenues and the promise of return customers.

 

[robbiew]

I had a dual heart valve replacement (aortic and tricuspid ) 39 years ago 1986...