A young Michigan man, Stan Larkin, 25, had survived for an astounding 17 months, that’s 555 days, without a heart. He had been waiting patiently for a heart transplant but the waiting list tends to be extremely long. He was kept alive by a revolutionary artificial heart that he was hooked up to and was contained in a backpack.
He had it and it kept him alive since November 2014 when his actual living heart was surgically removed from his body in an operation. The power source for the artificial heart that took his real hearts place was in the backpack. Finally, in May, a new healthy heart was found and Stan went into the University of Michigan to get the transplant. All has gone well for the young man.
His younger brother also used the device but managed to get a new heart sooner that Stan did. For the artificial heart, Stan had two tubes inserted into him and then to the power source in the backpack which pumped air into the ventricles of the artificial heart. Generally, about 4,000 people are waiting for a heart donation and transplant at any given moment.
“Most people would be scared to go so long with an artificial heart,” Stan said. “But I want to tell them to go through the fear because it helps you. I’m going home so fast because it helped me stay healthy until the transplant.”
The device weighs nearly 14 pounds. Many transplant hopeful have to wait years for a transplant and many simply don’t make it and die before a donor heart is available. Stan and his brother were diagnosed with familial cardiomyopathy which can strike down seemingly healthy people at any time. It is also suspected of being the leading cause of death among athletes. Stan learned of it when he collapsed while playing in a basketball game.
With the artificial heart and new backpack device, Stan, a young father, could still spend time playing with his children as well as playing the occasional pick up basketball game.
“I was shocked when the doctors started telling me I could live without a real heart in my body,” Stan said. “That a machine was going to be my heart. Just think of it – a machine!”
PHOTO CREDIT: University of Michigan