You are 50 years old now. You haven't taken care of your body as well as you thought and now you have to go through hundreds of tests to see if you can get the new organ you need. Would your chances of survival be good if you needed a transplant in the 1800s? And the present time? Do you have a chance of living a long time? Does the future really look better for transplants? You will learn about your chances of a successful transplant in the past, present and future. What is the history of transplants? No one knows exactly how long people have been transplanting tissue, but some of the earliest information we have dates back to the 1500s. The first thing in the medical record was of a doctor named Tagliacozzi who helped soldiers who had lost their nose in combat. The technique of letting the arm tissues connect and grow over the nose quickly spread throughout Europe. Then, in 1616, the British physician William Harvey took the first steps toward blood transfusions. He proved that blood circulates in the body via veins and arteries. It wasn't until 1818 that James Blundell informed everyone that using animal blood in transfusions was deadly (Wouk 12). Blood transfusions continued despite the mysteries behind it all. While doctors were perplexed about transplanting blood from one person to another, others continued. In 1869, the first skin graft took place. Then, in 1906, they carried out the first transfer of corneas. Once everyone saw that some body part relocations worked, they moved on to moving organs. The first successful kidney transplant took place in 1954 and it took place between identical twins. Then, in 1959, doctors performed another kidney transplant, again on twins, but this time they were unidentified... middle of paper... if you paid attention, you would know that most people didn't. live long after transplantation between the 17th and early 20th centuries. Your chances of surviving a transplant increased in the 1950s, but you would be even more likely to have a transplant today, in the 21st century. The probability of survival in the future is even better! Once stem cell research is clearly understood, the chances of living long after a transplant are approximately 100%! Works Cited Frieson, Tommy. “Timeline of historical events, important milestones in organ donation and transplantation. » U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Health Resources and Services Administration, 2009. Web. March 4, 2014. Wouk, Henry. Organ transplants. Ed. Megan Comerford, Joyce Stanton and Christine Florie. New York: Cavendish Square, nd Print.