Ann Harrison, the patient who underwent the world's first successful double-lung transplant at the Toronto General Hospital in 1986, died of a brain aneurysm at the same hospital Apr. 20. She was 56. In a eulogy, the surgeon who performed the procedure said he could not have asked for a better patient. “Ann began a new era, one that has brought immense relief to emphysema patients,” said Dr. Joel Cooper. “Having received this gift, she became a den mother for so many other patients, encouraging them in their quest, celebrating with them their victories, and consoling them and their families in their losses.” Cooper, who now practises in St. Louis, says he still shows a picture of Harrison during every lecture he gives on transplantation. “I still marvel when someone so close to death is returned to a vigorous life,” he says.