Maryland man gets Guinness record as longest survivor of artificial double heart valve replacement

Published 8:00 am Sunday, January 16, 2022

CUMBERLAND, Md. – After surviving three open heart surgeries, six cardiac catheterizations, five blood clots, and a deadly disease, Seth Wharton has a new number to add to his medical history: One world record.

Wharton said he’s grateful for many blessings, including a Guinness World Records title for the longest survivor of an artificial double heart valve replacement.

He “received aortic and mitral valve replacements on 2 October 1990, and has had valves for 31 years,” guinnessworldrecords.com states.

“I was born with a heart problem,” Wharton said and added he had surgeries when he was one month old, and at ages 5 and 13 years.

Wharton, 44, who lives in LaVale with his wife and four children, serves as hospice chaplain at UPMC Western Maryland.

Much of his job involves providing spiritual care for patients at home.

“I’m thankful for God sparing my life and I want it to be used to bless other people,” he said.

When he was a kid, doctors told him he would never be able to participate in sports.

Wharton ignored those recommendations.

“I’ve won weightlifting meets,” he said. “I run 5Ks with my family … played college basketball.”

Wharton said his childhood medical history, including treatment for subacute bacterial endocarditis, an infection that attacks the lining of the heart valves, “pushed me and my family to prayer and relying on God.”

Those experiences led him to the ministry, he said.

“I want to be able to encourage other people that there is life after surgery … and (surgery) can be a blessing,” Wharton said.

“I’ve been there, in life and death situations,” he said. “I feel like it gives me more of a connection to people and their families.”

He said application for the Guinness record required documents, including photos, letters from physicians and identification numbers for his replaced heart valves.

“I was surprised how much of a process it was,” he said.

Dr. Joel Brenner, an associate professor of pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said he was “very happy” to learn of Wharton’s Guinness record.

“It’s thrilling to hear his name,” Brenner said. “I hope he keeps breaking (the record) every day.”

He said Wharton’s surgeon did a great job.

“God bless, things worked out,” Brenner said.

“(Seth Wharton) was one of my first patients when I moved to Baltimore in 1977,” Brenner said.

“I used to see Seth mostly in Cumberland, sometimes in Baltimore,” he said and recalled the drive from Baltimore to Allegany County between 1977 and the early 1990s.

Benay Wharton, of LaVale, has been a registered nurse for roughly 50 years and also works at UPMC Western Maryland.

She said she and her family — including her husband Robert and Seth Wharton’s three older siblings — think of Brenner “all the time.”

Benay Wharton talked of her son’s bravery, stoicism, humor and faith as he battled surgeries as a child.

“Seth always had such a good attitude,” Benay Wharton said. “He has just made the most of everything. He was always driven, spiritually and physically.”

She said she was “very emotional” upon learning of her son’s Guinness record.

“It brings me to tears,” Benay Wharton said. “I’m just thankful (and) it’s an amazing accomplishment.”