To the Management of Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town,
I am a shoemaker in Turkey and would like to send a pair of shoes to Dr Barnard and Dr Blaiberg, who have made a remarkable contribution to humanity through their pioneering heart transplant. I kindly request that you send me their shoe sizes at your earliest convenience. I send my warm greetings to all the staff at your hospital from our city of Tekirdağ.
Best regards,
Ahmet Cuhaci
May 1, 1968
In 1968, a shoemaker from Tekirda , Turkey, named Ahmet Çuhacı, reached out to Prof Dr Chris Barnard with a heartfelt letter.
Barnard, who performed the world’s first heart transplant at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, became an international figure after the groundbreaking surgery.
In his letter, Çuhacı praised Barnard and his team for their achievement, expressed his desire to send a pair of shoes as a gift, and asked for the doctors’ shoe sizes. This letter, originally archived by the hospital administration, was displayed in the hospital’s museum section, where it remains a testament to this historic event.
The world’s first heart transplant, conducted by Barnard on the night of December 2, 1967, marked a revolutionary moment in medical history.
In the operating room of Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, Barnard and his team performed a surgery that had never been accomplished before: transplanting the heart of 25-year-old Denise Darvall into 53-year-old Louis Washkansky.
This incredible feat quickly made headlines around the globe, including in Türkiye, where it was hailed as “a new page in medical history” on December 4, 1967.
Daily updates about the surgery and Washkansky’s condition were reported in Turkish newspapers and on the radio, making Barnard a household name. His fame even inspired a folk song by Babi from Urfa, who sang, “Doctor Barnard, Doctor Barnard, come and put my heart on quickly”.
Çuhacı, a shoemaker working in a modest shop in the municipal arcade of Tekirda , was known for his curiosity and interest in world affairs. A middle school graduate, he followed current events through newspapers and radio and deeply understood the significance of Barnard’s medical breakthrough.
On May 1, 1968, he sent a letter in English to Groote Schuur Hospital’s management, expressing his desire to send shoes to Dr Barnard and Dr Blaiberg as a token of appreciation.
Çuhacı’s letter reached the hospital in Cape Town, but it is unclear how the administration responded, if at all. The Christian Barnard Museum later acknowledged the significance of the letter, especially among Turkish visitors, and provided additional information: “We have no record of whether the shoes were sent. We asked Dr Barnard’s daughter, and Miss Barnard said she couldn’t remember such a thing, but we still appreciated his pure intention.”
The operating room where the historic surgery took place was later transformed into the “Heart of Cape Town” museum, where Çuhacı’s letter is exhibited among other artefacts from the time.
* Halim Gençoğlu is a historian with PhD from UCT and is a post-doctoral fellow at Wits University.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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