Wednesday, June 3, 1998
What ever happened to Glen B. Silva, Hawaii's first heart transplant recipient? Silva’s experience
gave isles new heartSilva died on March 6, 1988, nearly a year after the retired Army serviceman and security guard made news as the first Hawaii patient to receive a transplanted heart. He was 51.
Silva became a symbol of hope for the state after a 22-person transplant team on March 10, 1987, performed the four-hour surgery at St. Francis Medical Center to give him the heart of a teen-ager.
The donor was 16-year-old Michael R. Benson, who was pronounced brain dead on March 9, 1987, after a two-car collision on Kalanianaole Highway. His family, headed by former Honolulu Police Maj. David Benson, started the Bobby Benson Center for drug treatment to remember Michael Benson's older brother, a victim of drug abuse who killed himself in 1994.
Doctors said Silva died from a urinary tract infection that poisoned his blood.
The heart transplant team was headed by Drs. Ricardo Moreno, Judson McNamara and Livingston Wong.
The operation paved the way for Hawaii's second and third heart transplants in 1988.
By Pat Omandam, Star-Bulletin
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