Who would have thought that a man living without a heart could ever survive, but this is true with 25-year old Stan Larkin from Michigan who lived for 555 days with an artificial heart in his backpack to keep him alive.
Man living without a heart sustained by artificial heart for more than a year.
Doctors from the University of Michigan Hospital fitted Larkin with a portable device known as the SynCaria Freedom Total Artificial Heart, while waiting for a heart transplant when Larkin suffered a cardiogenic shock due to a deadly condition known as right ventricular dysplasia back in 2014.
This heart condition causes the muscle of the heart’s right ventricle to develop tough fibrous tissue that eventually prevents the ventricle from contracting properly, and as it progresses it ultimately stops the heart’s ability to pump blood, placing patients at very high risk of sudden cardiac arrest or death.
There’s still no known cause for this disorder, but can be hereditary, according to medical experts.
Larkin’s younger brother Dominique also had the same condition and was soon able to receive a heart transplant.
“Took a lot of getting used to”
“It was kind of stressful at the beginning, because I had to get used to the noise, It was a lot of noise 24/7, the heartbeat,” Larkin said during a recent interview from the University of Michigan Hospital.
“As I got used to the noise, I could finally go to sleep. After that, I had to get used to carrying three extra bags with me, everywhere I went. I had to have all this stuff every time I moved.”
Larkin was first hooked up with an artificial heart known as “Big Blue” – a ‘washing machine” device that weighted around 400 pounds, which could have prevented Larkin from getting out of the hospital until they could find a matching heart donor that could take more than several months or even years, at most.
When he was presented with the option of the new portable artificial heart, Larkin readily agreed.
The portable device pumped compressed air through tubes that were inserted through Larkin’s chest and pumps blood throughout his body.
“Because it was electric, I couldn’t get in the shower. I had to pretty much wash up in the bath,” he said, adding that it was a bit difficult at first with other limitations as well like reduced physical activity and must ensure that he always needs to have it properly secured with his body during travel.
After 18 months, a matching donor was found and is now living with human heart. He’s into his first monthly check-up and said he was already feeling great, taken from a man living without a heart for more than a year.
Image Credit: Portable device allows U.S. man to live 18 months without a heart – CTV
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