The longest-surviving heart transplant patient in Oxfordshire is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the operation.

John Haines, of Woodgate Close, Grove, went under the scalpel of renowned heart surgeon Prof Sir Magadi Yacoub, 20 years ago on Monday at the Harefield Hospital, in Middlesex, when the operation was still considered revolutionary and dangerous.

He has lived a full and active life, at home and at work, ever since.

Mr Haines had suffered from acute angina for the previous 12 years, was confined to a wheelchair at the age of 44 and could barely comb his own hair without help.

He found out about his heart trouble after going to doctors complaining of severe indigestion.

When doctors examined him, they found he had previously suffered from as many as ten heart attacks without realising it or seeking medical assistance.

Mr Haines was the 26th heart transplant patient to be operated on at the Harefield Hospital and is one of only three patients who have enjoyed 20 years of life after the operation.

At the age of 64, Mr Haines - who still fits kitchens for a living - said: "The operation made me feel ten years younger. My wife and I have taken up bowls since then and I'm as fit as any man my age.

"I used to get severe pains in my chest if I exercised and I would have to slow down until it wore off. The operation was the best thing that ever happened to me.

"But for it I wouldn't be standing here now - I'd be long gone."

The first heart transplant was performed in Capetown in South Africa by Dr Christiaan Barnard in December 1967.

A year later, Sir Donald Ross performed the first one in the UK.

The heart transplant programme in the UK was begun in 1979 at Papworth Hospital by Sir Terence English and at Harefield Hospital by Prof Yacoub.

Today, 85 per cent of the people who undergo heart transplants survive for more than a year.

Sixty per cent survive for more than five years, 42 per cent live for another ten years and 20 per cent survive for 15 years.

Figures for people who have survived more than 20 years are not available because so few people have lived that long.

Asghar Khaghani, a cardiothorassic surgeon at the Harefield Hospital, said Mr Haines's survival owed much to his determination. He said: "The heart transplant programme was in its infancy when John Haines had his operation in 1981.

"At the time very little was known about the risks of possible rejection of the transplanted organ and we didn't have the sophisticated drugs we use today to prevent rejection from happening.

"His survival owes much to his determination to get and remain fit after his operation, and the support of his family."

Mr Haines, who has two children and four grandchildren, will celebrate the milestone with wife Wendy by attending the annual reunion of the Heart Transplant Club, in Bournemouth

There, he will be given a badge with 20 on it to mark the anniversary.