Alain Delhoulle, a Belgian husband and father, passed away on 19 February – in doing so setting the world record for the longest lived with a heart transplant. Delhoulle underwent a heart transplant aged 21 and lived for 36 more years.
Doctors had told him last November that he would need a new one but Delhoulle refused, saying he wanted to give the chance he had been given to someone younger.
When Delhoulle was 19, a minor case of angina turned into acute myocarditis, which escalated to the point of him needing a heart transplant when he was 21 years old. "He had to give up his cooking studies in his final year, even though he was excelling," his wife, Fabienne Jacquet told La Capitale.
But once his new heart had successfully been transplanted, Delhoulle continued to pursue his dream and worked in several restaurants in Belgium before switching to a new passion: making chocolate. In 2000 he started a career as a chocolatier and worked at Passion Chocolat in Woluwe-St-Lambert.
A devoted family man
In 2003, Delhoulle stopped work to preserve his health. "He wanted to protect us and see his son grow up for as long as possible," Jacquet explained. Yet he cultivated his passion by looking after his family, often cooking for them with vegetables he grew in their garden.
His son Florian inherited this love of food and is now a pastry chef. "He gave his all to the education of our son. He was a great father at home, loving and instilling great values in him", said Delhoulle's wife.
Delhoulle was also actively involved in the National Association of Erasmus Heart Transplant Patients and he promoted organ donation at various schools, sharing his experience at conferences.
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He participated in the World and European Transplant Games several times and won numerous medals. He has also taken part in the Brussels 20 kilometres on several occasions, along with other transplant patients from all over Europe.
Before Delhoulle, the record for living with a heart transplant was set by a British man who lived with a new heart for 33 years.
