Kidney Transplant: More evidence for Shen/Organ theory

Very persuasive evidence that personality travels along with the vital organ. This articles suggests that the memory may be cellular, but I don’t know of personality being transferred from blood transfusions or skin grafts – I’ve only heard of it happening with a whole organ transplant. Which suggests something closer to Taoist theory of vital organ spirits.
-M

London Daily Mail november 6 06

For 31 years of married life, Ian Gammons prided himself on being the
man of the house. But after his wife Lynda donated one of her kidneys
to the rugby loving 51-year-old, it appears that he is becoming more
and more like her.

Before the transplant Mr Gammons hated cooking, shopping and
gardening. Now he is rarely happier than when baking a trayful of
scones, wandering around the stores looking for bargains or mowing the
lawn. He has even begun to share his wife’s love of dogs, an animal he
previously despised.

Mr Gammons appears to be the latest example of a phenomenon which is
intriguing some medical experts – that it is possible to inherit
character traits from an organ transplant donor.

The transformation happened after he became seriously ill with
Nephrotic Syndrome, a kidney disorder.

The father of two faced years of dialmaintenanceysis but doctors found
that his wife was a perfect match and successfully transplanted one of
her kidneys to him in October last year at Leicester General Hospital.
It appears that it was not all she gave him.

‘It sounds absolutely ridiculous but I think I’ve inherited some of
Lynda’s personality traits since I got her kidney,’ said Mr Gammons,
who lives in the village of Weston near Spalding, Lincolnshire.

‘I’ve started to enjoy cooking quite a lot – particularly baking –
which I was never interested in before.

‘I love making scones and cakes and stuff like that. My daughters tell
me that they are very good. I never liked shopping. But since the
transplant I like going round the shops and looking for bargains.

‘I’ve also become more intuitive. Before I relied on facts and
statistics to reach a decision and never trusted my intuition at all.
Now I go with my gut feeling.

‘I was never very keen on pets. I never wanted a dog. After the
operation Lynda suggested we should get a dog, and I jumped at the
chance.’

Mr Gammons was a production planner for a medical company but is
currently unemployed. His wife, also 51, is a retail manager. She
said: ‘I noticed it after a few months. He said something and it just
struck me, that he said exactly what I would have said.

‘When you live with somebody for 30 years you know the responses. We
talked it over and he said “You’re right. I’d never have said that
before”. I love it. It’s wonderful that we are so close – and seem to
be getting closer.’

Many scientists are sceptical that transplant patients can inherit
character traits from the donor.

However, among those who believe it can happen, the theory of
‘cellular memory’ is increasingly popular. This is the notion that
living cells ‘ memorise’ and recall characteristics of the previous
body.

It is highly unusual for a wife to donate a kidney to her husband
because they are not related by blood. Of the 1,800 transplants last
year, only 30 involved patients and donors who were not from the same
family.

Earlier this year, the Mail told how American William Sheridan, 63,
was suddenly blessed with the ability to paint after receiving the
heart of an artistic 24-year-old stockbroker who had been killed in a
car crash.