Friends and family remember the man with the biggest heart
THE inspiring life of the world’s longest-surviving heart transplant recipient was celebrated at his funeral in Knysna yesterday.
Paul Thesen, 48, died on Christmas Day after he was found unconscious in his car. He had sustained an injury to his head.
At an intimate service at the St George’s Anglican Church Thesen, who received his first donor heart at the age of 14 more than 30 years ago, was described as an adventurer with a passion for helping those in need.
Family friend Tim Benningfield, who gave the eulogy, said Thesen had an “absolute ability to deal with the challenges placed in his path”.
“He had a history of challenges, from losing his mother at a young age to becoming the youngest heart transplant patient,” Benningfield said.
“He used this adversity to grow and to develop into the man he became.”
Benningfield said he was a keen adventurer who later became a Paralympian in Switzerland, did skydiving, rescued a group of clients from an “angry hippo in the Okavango” and even negotiated the release of a group of tourists who were held hostage by terrorists.
Benningfield said he also gave freely of himself and of his time. “He gave fishing tackle to underprivileged children in the Transkei and gave the fish he caught to widows and orphans.”
Father Colin Paine who officiated at the funeral said it was a “great shock” to hear about Thesen’s death on Christmas Day.
“In some way perhaps for Paul, it was an enormous day for him, celebrating that he left this earth to be with Jesus.”
Thesen, whose family is one of the founding families of Knysna, received his first donor heart at the age of 14 from a Xhosa man in 1980, and his second, three years later, from a girl who was killed in a car accident.
Heart transplant pioneer Chris Barnard and his brother Marius performed both transplants.
Police are still investigating the circumstances of Thesen’s death and an inquest docket has been opened.