What courageous thing did Barney Clark do that advanced medical study on the heart?

Barney Clark was the first permanent artificial heart recipient.

He was implanted with the Jarvik-7 total artificial heart on December 2, 1982. Clark lived for 112 days with the artificial heart before succumbing to complications on March 23, 1983.

Clark's artificial heart implant was a pioneering event that advanced medical studies on the heart. It demonstrated the feasibility of using artificial hearts to replace a failing human heart and provided valuable data on the challenges associated with long-term artificial heart implantation.