December 04, 2007
Steady of heart and stout of hand
Sometimes impressive luck and tenacity isn't enough. When i saw the news headline artificial heart man dies aged 68 I guessed it had to be Peter Houghton. There are not that many people around with artificial hearts, especially people who are so newsworthy.
My favorite memory of Peter is from the TransVision 2001 conference in Berlin. He had lectured about his experiencs and we were all in awe of him, yet we all felt a bit of concern that he might be fragile. In the evening we went to visit the BodyWorlds exhibition, itself a quite memorable experience. As we approached the section dealing with the circulatory system my anticipation and slight worry grew. But Peter took the opportunity to hold an impromptu extra lecture, pointing at the different preparations and using them as visual explanations of how his implant worked. It was a marvellous experience and completely dispelled the image that he was frail and not to be disturbed. Instead he took charge and made the most of his "bonus years", something we are deeply thankful for.