Richard Herrick
Richard J. Herrick was the world's first recipient of a successful human organ transplant, receiving a kidney from his identical twin brother Ronald, in an operation performed by Joseph Murray, Hartwell Harrison, and Joseph Merrill in 1954. After being discharged from the coastguards, but the reunion was not one of joy. Herrick was diagnosed with Kidney Disease, and was given little time to live. With nothing to lose and lots to gain, Herrick was told of a Harvard Medical School professor experimenting with the idea of transplanting healthy organs into those whose organs had failed. On December 23, 1954 Ronald the surgery was done, giving Richard one of Ronald's kidneys. Richard was given a new life, and lived for 8 more years.
