Substance abuse counsellor and Mid-Ocean News columnist Jerry Griffiths was resting in a US hospital last night after receiving a new heart during a six-hour transplant procedure.

His wife, Dee, said she called Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland, yesterday morning and was told her husband had been taken to the operating room at 7.30 a.m. Bermuda time.

She said she understood that two hearts had been made available at once but did not know from where and which one her husband had received.

Mr. Griffiths came out of the operating room at about 4 p.m. Bermuda time and was set to remain under sedation.

"His new heart is in and it is working,'' said Mrs. Griffiths.

"Things look good at the moment but we won't know more until they wake him up in about 12 hours.'' Mrs. Griffiths added that she planned to join her husband tomorrow, depending on weather conditions and Hurricane Erika's movements.

The surgery was performed by the attending surgeon at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Peter Green, who told The Royal Gazette that Mr. Griffiths was "doing very well''.

"He's got a terrific heart from a young person and it is functioning well and contracting vigorously.'' Dr. Green noted that Mr. Griffiths was a diabetic which would make the healing process "a little bit challenging'' and pointed out there was still a lot of recovery for him to go through.

Mr. Griffiths arrived at Johns Hopkins on November 8 last year after suffering a series of heart attacks and was approved for a heart transplant on November 27. He became severely ill in May and in June was fitted with a Novacor system which allowed him to return to the list of hopeful heart transplant patients.

The Novacor provided temporary support as a bridge to the cardiac transplant.

This unit had to be removed in a four hour long operation yesterday before the heart could be transplanted.

Meanwhile Mr. Griffiths was put on a cardiac bypass machine which kept him alive during the six hour operation.

Dr. Green said the Novacor had been a rousing success and had helped prepare Mr. Griffiths for the transplant procedure.

Before it was put in, he continued, there was concern that Mr. Griffiths might not make it to the point of transplant.