Colin Hancock (UK) was an active, seemingly healthy 30-year-old when he began experiencing pains in his chest.
Within less than a year, at the age of 31, he was in hospital, undergoing triple heart bypass surgery. Although the surgery was successful, it remained uncertain how long he would live, and he was told that he'd be dealing with heart problems for the rest of his life.
Now aged 77, Colin is still going strong and continues to defy expectations.
With today (4 August 2023) marking 45 years 361 days since his operation, Colin has been officially certified as the world’s longest-surviving triple heart bypass patient (male).
The previous record belonged to Delbert Dale McBee (USA), who passed away in 2015 at the age of 90, 41 years 63 days after his operation.
Colin describes his 30-year-old self as “very fit”. He played a variety of sports and did circuit training, and there was no indication that he had any heart problems.
He admits, though, that he did not have a healthy diet, and when he was a child, it was “quite lard-ladened”, with his favourite meal being egg and chips cooked in lard.
Colin also has familial hypercholesterolaemia, a genetic disorder that causes high cholesterol and coronary heart disease.
His first sign that something was wrong came when he felt a sharp pain in the middle of his chest while he was running. He also remembers walking up a steep hill and experiencing the feeling of an elastic band around his chest.
Colin’s wife, Christine, encouraged him to visit a doctor. “Thank goodness I did,” he said.
Colin says he owes his life to Dr Snyder at Wrafton House, who insisted on Colin doing an exercise ECG after his resting ECG showed no abnormalities. The hospital had no exercise ECG machines at the time, so Colin had to run up and down a flight of stairs until he felt a warming in his chest, which was the onset of angina.
Another ECG was taken, and this time the graph was “all over the place”. Colin says he nearly passed out due to the shock of the results.
Resigned to simply “working and worrying” for the next few months, in March 1977 he was able to see a cardiac consultant for some tests. Colin says a central catheter was inserted across his chest, then he was taken to a different hospital for what he calls “wiring up”.
“A catheter was inserted from my groin into the heart,” he explained. “I was in a cradle that was rocked as I watched the fluid released that seared out to every extremity. Meanwhile a camera was firing rapidly to capture all potential blockages.”
Two months later, in May, he met Dr Parker, the surgeon who would preside over his operation. “One chilling thing he did say was I would never be rid of the problem,” Colin recalls.
Triple bypass surgery reroutes blood around three blocked areas in the heart’s coronary arteries. It involves transporting blood vessels from elsewhere in the body to the heart, allowing blood to flow through open blood vessels instead of trying to move through blocked ones.
Colin remembers having previously watched a BBC television programme featuring a triple heart bypass operation and thinking to himself that he would never let that be done to him. However, “needs must when the Devil drives,” he said.
Colin initially went in for his operation at St George’s Hospital in London on 10 July 1977, however, he was sent home four days later, before having the surgery, as his rare blood type (B Rhesus negative) was urgently required by a victim of a car crash.
He went back to the hospital on 8 August “feeling a lot more confident” as he’d seen the “efficiency of the operations” during his previous visit.
Colin underwent the operation three days later, on 11 August. Before going under anaesthesia, Colin remembers thinking about his wife and two young daughters, hoping that they’d be taken care of financially if he didn’t survive the operation.
“I never thought something like this would happen to me,” Colin said. He had £1,000 life cover with the company he worked for at the time, who paid him for all the time he was off. When he thankfully survived, he took out a “loaded insurance” policy to ensure his family would be financially secure if he passed away due to future complications.
After waking up from his successful surgery, Colin remembers feeling a swab “come away from down below” as well as a “tugging” on his chest where he’d been stitched up, although he felt no pain.
He found himself unable to urinate, so was advised to listen to running water, which miraculously worked, according to Colin.
His wife and mother visited him in the ICU on the day after his operation, and when he was back on the hospital ward, his sister and nephews came to see him. “They walked straight past; didn’t recognize me in my dilapidated and haggard state,” Colin recalls.
Colin was discharged 12 days after his operation. He vividly remembers the “first intrepid steps” he took near his house. “I was walking down the road, wondering if I’d make it back!” he recalled.
Besides his scars, Colin’s body was left with another remnant of the operation for several years afterwards: a piece of blue plastic twine sticking out the top of his chest. “One day I pushed it back inside and never seen it since,” he said.
In the days after returning home, Colin was nervous about going for walks outside. “What if something happens and there’s no help at hand?” he thought.
However, he didn’t let these worries hold him back, and started going for short jogs and bike rides.
He worked his way back up to full fitness and also returned to his job as an accountant, enjoying a long career up to his retirement.
In terms of diet, he began drinking skimmed milk, reduced his egg intake, and overall was “more watchful” about what he ate. He also dissolved Questran (a medication used to lower cholesterol levels in the blood) in his water, which he drank before each meal.
Colin is a non-smoker and has “never been a big drinker”, so he didn’t have any issues in that regard.
Nowadays, Colin admits he’s “eased up” on his diet slightly. “I mean, I’m 77 – I never thought I’d even pass three score and ten,” he said. He believes that statins (cholesterol-lowering drugs) have played a big part in his longevity.
Colin continues exercising to this day, and particularly enjoys playing walking football, although he doesn’t always abide by the rules: “I’m the only one who’s got pulled up for running. I can’t believe it,” he revealed.
Colin also used to play pickleball, paddleball, and walking basketball, although he said that “nobody walked”. Despite having to mostly give up playing these sports due to suffering mild hip arthritis, he can still get through football sessions by wearing two layers of support pants.
And incredibly, he is still able to ride his racing bicycle up steep hills!
“I’d never thought I’d be able to get this far and still be able to do what I still can,” Colin said.
“My surgeon, the great Dr Parker, told me at the time I would not be rid of the problem, but thanks to the NHS and the drug therapy, here I am.”
In addition to the doctor that diagnosed him, and the surgeons that operated on him, Colin would also like to thank Wrafton House Surgery in Hertfordshire. “They have maintained me, so to speak, for all these years.”
Colin’s record-breaking survival is a testament to the huge advancements that have been made in modern medicine, as well as his determination to keep himself healthy. We hope he can continue to extend his record for many years to come!
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