Cellular Memory in Organ Transplants
Leslie A. Takeuchi, BA, PTA
In my experience as a physical therapist assistant, I have come to
acknowledge the relevance of thoughts, emotions and spiritual beliefs
to healing. I recognize the art of physical therapy to be based upon
empirical science and a dualism which views the mind and body as
separate, thus drawing a sharp distinction between sensory experiences
and physical reality, between subject and object, between mind and
matter and between soul and body. However, I also recognize that even
though my science provides a rational foundation, it does not allow
for the importance of the subjectivity and wholeness I see in my
patients whose bodies and minds are inseparable.
In my work with the chronic pain population, I have taken a closer
look at this relationship of mind and matter, body and emotions, for
keys to how people heal. In this search, I looked into theories of
emotions or memories being somehow stored in the tissues of the body
and later manifesting in the physical form of pain or disease. What
was most striking were the numerous reports of organ transplant
recipients who later experienced changes in personality traits, tastes
for food, music, activities and even sexual preference. Is it possible
that our memories reside deep inside our bodily cells in addition to
in our minds?
Current understandings about memory, for example, place this mental
capacity solely as a function of the brain. However, the process of
memory may be too complex to be explained by measuring brain activity
through electroencephalograms or oxygen uptake as recorded on PET
scans. Looking at memory as part of the quantum world of sub-atomic
systems gives the visual image of tiny specks whizzing around every
which way until there is a need for them to come together into some
sort of pattern of awareness. But, where do the memories reside?
Candace Pert, author of Molecules of Emotion: Why You Feel the Way You
Feel, says, "Memories are stored not only in the brain, but in a
psychosomatic network extending into the body . . . all the way out
along pathways to internal organs and the very surface of our skin."
After having discovered neuropeptides in all body tissues, Pert
suggests that through cellular receptors, thoughts or memories may
remain unconscious or can become conscious-raising the possibility of
physiological connections between memories, organs and the mind.
University of Arizona scientists and co-authors of The Living Energy
Universe, Gary Schwartz, PhD, and Linda Russek, PhD, propose the
universal living memory hypothesis in which they believe that "all
systems stored energy dynamically . . . and this information continued
as a living, evolving system after the physical structure had
deconstructed." Schwartz and Russek believe this may explain how the
information and energy from the donor's tissue can be present,
consciously or unconsciously, in the recipient.
Paul Pearsall, MD, a psychoneuroimmunologist and author of The Heart's
Code, has researched the transference of memories through organ
transplantation. After interviewing nearly 150 heart and other organ
transplant recipients, Pearsall proposes the idea that cells of living
tissue have the capacity to remember.
Together with Schwartz and Russek, Pearsall conducted a study,
published in the Spring 2002 issue of the Journal of Near-Death
Studies, entitled, "Changes in Heart Transplant Recipients That
Parallel the Personalities of Their Donors." The study consisted of
open-ended interviews with 10 heart or heart-lung transplant
recipients, their families or friends and the donor's families or
friends. The researchers reported striking parallels in each of the
cases. The following is a sampling of some these.
In one case, an 18-year-old boy who wrote poetry, played music and
composed songs, was killed in an automobile accident. A year after he
died his parents came across an audiotape of a song he had written,
entitled, "Danny, My Heart is Yours," which was about how he "felt he
was destined to die and give his heart to someone." The donor
recipient "Danny" of his heart, was an 18-year-old girl, named
Danielle. When she met the donor's parents, they played some of his
music and she, despite never having heard the song, was able to
complete the phrases.
In another case, a seven-month-old boy received a heart from a
16-month-old boy who had drowned. The donor had a mild form of
cerebral palsy mostly on the left side. The recipient, who did not
display such symptoms prior to the transplant, developed the same
stiffness and shaking on the left side.
A 47-year-old Caucasian male received a heart from a 17-year-old
African-American male. The recipient was surprised by his new-found
love of classical music. What he discovered later was that the donor,
who loved classical music and played the violin, had died in a
drive-by shooting, clutching his violin case to his chest.
A 29-year-old lesbian and a fast food junkie received a heart from a
19-year-old woman vegetarian who was "man crazy." The recipient
reported after her operation that meat made her sick and she was no
longer attracted to women. If fact, she became engaged to marry a man.
A 47-year-old man received a heart from a 14-year-old girl gymnast who
had problems with eating disorders. After the transplant, the
recipient and his family reported his tendency to be nauseated after
eating, a childlike exuberance and a little girl's giggle.
Aside from those included in the study, there are other transplant
recipients whose stories are worth mentioning, such as Claire Sylvia,
a woman who received a heart-lung transplant. In her book entitled, A
Change of Heart: A Memoir, Ms. Sylvia describes her own journey from
being a healthy, active dancer to becoming ill and eventually needing
a heart transplant. After the operation, she reported peculiar changes
like cravings for beer and chicken nuggets, neither of which she had a
taste for prior to the transplant. She later discovered that these
were favorites of her donor. She even learned that her donor had
chicken nuggets in his jacket pocket when he died in a motorcycle
accident.
Another possible incidence of memory transfer occurred when a young
man came out of his transplant surgery and said to his mother,
"everything is copasetic." His mother said that he had never used that
word before, but now used it all the time. It was later discovered
that the word had been a signal, used by the donor and his wife,
particularly after an argument, so that when they made up they knew
everything was okay. The donor's wife reported that they had had an
argument just before the donor's fatal accident and had never made up.
Another amazing story, reported by Pearsall, is that of an
eight-year-old girl who received the heart of a ten-year-old girl who
had been murdered. After the transplant, the recipient had horrifying
nightmares of a man murdering her donor. The dreams were so traumatic
that psychiatric help was sought. The girl's images were so specific
that the psychiatrist and the mother notified the police. According to
the psychiatrist, ". . .using the description from the little girl,
they found the murderer. He was easily convicted with the evidence the
patient provided. The time, weapon, place, clothes he wore, what the
little girl he killed had said to him . . . everything the little
heart transplant recipient had reported was completely accurate."
Although medical science is not yet ready to embrace the ideas of
cellular memory, one surgeon believes there must be something to it.
Mehmet Oz, MD, heart surgeon at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center,
has invited an energy healer, Julie Motz, into the operating room
during transplant surgery. Initially, Motz practiced energy healing to
help reduce anxiety prior to surgery and depression following surgery.
Then the team noticed that there seemed to be less incidence of
rejection in these patients. They were curious to see what would
happen if she were present during the operation. Motz registers,
through sensations in her own body, the emotional state of the patient
during the surgical procedure. Through her touch or words, Motz
attempts to alleviate any worries, fears or anger the patient may be
experiencing. She works with the recipient's ability to accept the new
organ and also works with the donated tissue so it will accept a new
body. The results have been favorable, and the team reports reduced
rejection and increased survival rates. This may sound outrageous to
those who never thought about tissues having feelings or caring about
where they would reside, but Dr. Oz believes that it would be a
disservice to ignore even the possibility that this method could help.
More studies are being conducted with regard to the phenomenon of
organ recipient and donor coincidences. Pearsall, Schwartz and Russek
report that, "research is underway at the University of Arizona on a
sample of more than 300 transplant patients to determine the incidence
of such transcendent memory phenomena using semi-structured interviews
and systematic questions."
Intriguing questions remain. What percentage of transplant recipients
actually do feel changes in behavior and personality or report changes
in food preference or have new memories? Is there a higher incidence
of tissue or organ acceptance in those patients who are aware of their
consciousness or who have energy work done? Will ordinary science
offer more evidence to support that memories are transferred-or will
we need a new science? Perhaps more importantly, what does this
transcendent phenomenon have to tell us about other healing events?
Leslie A. Takeuchi, BA, PTA is a physical therapist assistant and is
currently a graduate student in Holistic Health Education at John. F.
Kennedy University in Orinda, California. An article about Julie
Motz's energy healing work appeared in the June/July issue of San
Francisco Medicine in 2000. Her book, "Hand of Life" was published by
Bantam Books in 1998.
Heart's Code, The
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