Denise Darvall

Denise Darvall (27 February 1942 – 3 December 1967)[1] was the donor in the world's first successful human heart transplant, performed at Groote Schuur Hospital, South Africa, by a team of surgeons led by Christiaan Barnard.

She and her mother, Myrtle Ann Darvall, were run over by salesman and police reservist Frederick Prins, who failed to see them.

She required life support to remain alive, and was essentially brain dead by the time she made it into the hospital.

Bosman explained that there was a man in the hospital they might be able to help (Louis Washkansky), and asked Edward if he would consider allowing them to transplant Denise's heart.

Due to apartheid, the kidney donation to Van Wyk was controversial[4] because he was khoi, while Denise was white.

[citation needed] He made a statement through a lawyer, asking the magistrate to show the "greatest possible mercy" to the driver.