Between 1980 and 2005, who was Europe's longest surviving heart transplant recipient?

A 1980 patient, Derrick Morris, was Europe's longest surviving heart transplant recipient until his death in July 2005. He lived for 25 years as a heart recipient. His record was superseded by John McCafferty who survived a heart transplant for over 33 years. McCafferty died in February 2016.

Regarding Derrick Morris, he was actually a dock worker from Swansea. He suffered a heart attack in 1975, and received his new heart in an operation carried out by Magdi Yacoub at Harefield Hospital in 1980. The donor was a 26 year old woman who had been killed in a car crash. Morris was given only a 15% chance of survival, and was told to "live six months at a time". But, he was eventually able to return to work at the docks. He was the eleventh person in the UK to receive a heart transplant.

Since 1980, a little more than 3,000 successful operations have been performed in the world. So, Morris was glad to say that his surgery totally transformed his life. And, he wanted to point out the fact to others that it was incredible to think that he had someone else's heart beating inside of him for a third of his life. For those people who needed it, he wished them the kind of success that he had ultimately achieved for 25 years.