A Dutch man has made medical history by receiving seven kidney transplants, earning him a Guinness World Record for the highest number of kidney transplants in a single lifetime.

Björn van Empel, now 46 years old, has lived with severe kidney disease for almost his entire life. His remarkable journey began at the age of just two, when a severe ear infection led to near-total kidney failure.

A Lifetime Battle with Kidney Disease

• 1985 (age 7): Björn received his first kidney transplant after starting dialysis.
• 1990: The first transplant failed and was rejected. He received his second transplant the same year.
• 1994: The second kidney also failed.
• 1998: He underwent his third transplant.
• 2003: Fourth transplant.
• 2007 and 2009: Fifth and sixth transplants (both failed very quickly, within a week).

By this point, his body had developed high levels of antibodies, making each new transplant extremely risky and likely to be rejected.

In 2014, Björn received his seventh kidney transplant — this time from his younger sister, Marieke. Thanks to a new medical procedure called desensitization (which removes harmful antibodies from the blood) performed at Erasmus MC medical center in the Netherlands, the transplant was successful.

After the seventh transplant, Guinness World Records officially recognized him as the person who has undergone the most kidney transplants in history.

Life After the Record-Breaking Transplant

Following the 2014 transplant, Björn’s health stabilized significantly. One year later, in 2015, he and his wife Wietske welcomed their son Daan.

Interestingly, his wife Wietske is also a kidney transplant recipient — the couple first met as children at a hospital for young patients with kidney disease.

Björn currently works as a primary school teacher in the Netherlands. Despite his long medical history, he has always refused to let his illness define him.

“People sometimes ask me if I would live differently if I were completely healthy. I don’t know. I’ve never let the disease stop me. I’ve studied, worked, played sports, and traveled just like everyone else,” he said.

He also emphasizes:

“I have an illness, but the illness does not define who I am.”

A Story of Hope and Medical Progress

Björn has written a book about his extraordinary life titled Zucht van Verlichting (roughly translated as Sigh of Relief).

His story highlights both the challenges of living with chronic illness and the remarkable advances in transplant medicine. He notes that kidney transplants today are far safer and more comfortable than when he had his first one in 1985.

Björn continues to have regular check-ups every two months and remains grateful for the support of his family — especially his sister Marieke, who gave him the gift of life through her donation.