Man explains theory of Epigenetics after man who received heart transplant goes on to live same life and death as donor

If you've been feeling bamboozled by the story of a man who started living a strangely similar life to that of his heart transplant donor then there could be an explanation.

You might have heard about a man named Sonny Graham, who got a heart transplant in 1995 from Terry Cottle, a 33-year-old who sadly commited suicide.

After the transplant, Sonny went on to live a life that was strangely similar to that of his donor, with him developing a taste for Terry's favourite food - and he even ending up marrying his wife.

Tragically, Sonny went on to also take his own life in 2008.

It's a tad hard to explain, the idea that getting a new organ from someone might change your life significantly and have a major impact on who you are as a person.

A theory which tries to figure this phenomenon out is 'Epigenetics', where certain experiences in life could be passed on through our genes.

The idea behind Epigenetics is that there are inheritable traits that someone has picked up over a lifetime which end up being passed down by their genes.

Or perhaps passed across if some part of them has been transplanted into another person.

There are a number of stories of people getting transplants who then became more like the person who had donated an organ to them.

Gaining a part of another person had not just brought in another organ to perform a bodily function but seemingly brought part of the person who donated it with them.

Some chap on TikTok who was trying to explain Epigenetics to his followers recounted stories of a man getting a heart transplant who seemed to pick up his donor's love for classical music.

In another case of heart donation a woman was able to complete the lyrics to a song her donor had written, while a young girl who got the heart of another child who had been stabbed to death ended up having nightmares about it.

The BBC reports that studying the descendants of those who have been through traumatic experiences produced some strange results.

Scientific studies comparing children of veterans who had been prisoners of war to those who hadn't found a higher rate of mortality among the former group.

It's been theorised that living through war, famine and other traumatic experiences can have an epigenetic impact on future descendants, though proving such things for certain and how exactly they work still eludes us.

Some people who have such close biological connections can end up living strangely similar lives.

There are twins who were separated at birth but lived near identical lives and developed the same tastes in cigarettes, beer, cars, dog names and even the names of their wives and children.