present -- a new heart.

The 42-year-old Warwick man underwent the life-saving operation at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore yesterday.

And as family and friends waited tensely back home, the news everyone wanted finally emerged -- it had been a success.

"It's such a huge, huge relief. We're all absolutely delighted,'' Wayne's 19-year-old daughter, Carol, told The Royal Gazette last night.

She added a joyful family Christmas in Baltimore was now on the cards.

"My father has now three birthdays to celebrate. The day he was born. The day he found the Lord. And the day he got a new heart.'' Yesterday Mr. Hollis was under intensive care, and said to be "doing really well''.

His wife, Carol, was maintaining a bedside vigil.

The operation marked the end of a traumatic four-year-wait for the skilled plumber whose plight touched the Country.

It triggered a massive fund-raising effort to pay for the $180,000 transplant.

Government, through a grant to the Lady Cubitt Compassionate Association, stepped in to foot the bill.

Mr. Hollis has suffered from cardiomyopathy, a weakening of the heart's muscles which severely reduces its efficiency.

But now another tough ordeal faces the family -- caring for him during months of recuperation.

He is going to need constant medical care once out of hospital, with several return trips to Baltimore.

It is hoped, however, he will be able to return eventually to work.

Doctors operated on Mr. Hollis early yesterday morning, shortly after a suitable donor heart became available.

He had been on stand-by for a transplant at a relative's house in Baltimore, 55 minutes from the hospital.

Miss Hollis told The Royal Gazette her father rang her at 6 a.m. with the good news.

"His emotions were mixed. He was extremely excited, but also scared about the operation. I'm so relieved, because the new heart has given him a new chance of life.

"I was told the operation had been a great success. The new heart had taken right away, and there was no bleeding.'' She added: "I would like to thank everyone who has supported us. We're all extremely grateful.'' Miss Hollis's sister Waynette, seven, and 18-year-old brother, Wayne, were also informed about the transplant.

"All of us are really delighted. Little Waynette is just so excited, and can't wait to see her father.

"We're a religious family and have been praying constantly for our father.'' Miss Hollis said she and her brother and sister hoped to fly to Baltimore to see their father.

"I'm really just waiting for the latest news from my mother. I'm expecting a call tonight.'' Brethren church elder Mr. Randolph Furbert, chairman of the fund raising committee for Mr. Hollis, yesterday said he had not heard any definite news of the operation.

"I know they were hoping to operate today. I'm just waiting to hear what's happened. Naturally it's great news if the operation has gone ahead and is successful.'' Health and Social Services Minister the Hon. Quinton Edness said: "We have heard the good news. We are all praying everything will work out well.'' Mr. Edness pointed out Mr. Hollis would face a long recuperation, and it was important for the community to continue to rally behind him, both financially and spiritually.

Doctors say the one-year survival rate of a heart transplant operation is about 87 percent.

The proportion of patients who reach five years is about 70 percent.