week.

Griffith suffered the seizure -- of unknown origin -- last Saturday some 26 days after being released from hospital.

He was taken off life support at Johns Hopkins yesterday and it is thought to be unlikely he will survive the weekend.

Mr. Griffith's wife, Dee, said family members had gathered in Baltimore to be with him.

"Post-transplant, Jerry did excellently, but last Saturday he suffered this massive seizure which he will not be able to survive,'' she said.

It was just last month that Mr. Griffiths was resting comfortably after a successful and lengthy heart transplant operation.

At that time, Mr. Griffiths, a columnist at the Mid-Ocean News and a substance abuse counsellor, was in stable condition and his breathing tube had been removed.

He went to Maryland since he began suffering the effects of a series of heart attacks last November.