David Jones
In March 2005, David Jones, 52, of NC, thought he was coming down with the flu. A self-employed contractor, his chest pains worsened to the point that he couldn't breathe. His wife Jill decided to call an ambulance to the nearest hospital.At first, David looked to be having all the signs of a heart attack. His blood pressure was dangerously low and he seemed to be going into shock. In order to save his life, he was flown to Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte where they discovered that he was not having a heart attack but rather, he was suffering from viral myocarditis. This rare condition results when the muscles in the walls of the heart become infected with a virus. The most distressing thing about viral myocarditis is whom it strikes. Most patients have had no significant previous illness and may be in the prime of life. Then, without warning, heart failure develops.
In David's case, the virus caused severe and sudden damage to his heart and it could not pump blood forcefully enough to sustain his vital organs. With David's heart failing the quick-thinking surgeons at Presbyterian decided to implant a temporary ventricular assist device (VAD) to take over the pumping of his heart so that the damaged muscle can rest and potentially recover.
David stayed in the hospital for a few days while his heart rested and regained its strength. His surgeons were able to remove the VADs he had on each side of his heart and send him home with his very own heart. Within a few days he was getting physical therapy and he is now back at home with his family and back at work.
Melissa Moser
Melissa Moser, 21, had not previously suffered from any type of heart failure and so the events of April 2006 came as a shock to her and her family. Melissa had a near fatal encounter with a pulmonary embolism - a large blood clot that worked its way into her heart's arterial system and nearly killed her. Symptoms that originally seemed like the flu worsened to the point that she had problems breathing and was blacking out. Fortunately, her roommate called 911 and Melissa was flown to a hospital.
Melissa had several open-heart surgeries and her doctors were able to find a saddle pulmonary embolism that partially blocked the intersection of two of her heart's arteries, restricting blood flow and damaging the right side of her heart.
Her doctors said the right side of her heart was "insulted" and "stunned," in the same manner as an arm or leg muscle after too much exercise. She was also put on a medical device to pump her blood and try to rest and recover her heart. In Melissa's case, they thought she would not recover her heart and would need to be put on a longer-term device which would commit her to a transplant.
Luckily, Melissa's heart started to recover from its injury and her doctors were able to remove the artificial heart pump, called the AB5000. Since that time, Melissa has graduated from college and gotten married. "My feeling is there were so many people praying for me and supporting my family and friends and lifting me up, it's the least I can do to tell them my story and thank them and give them a little education," she says.
Veronica Salas
Veronica Salas, 26, of Santa Paula, CA, started to feel under the weather in December 2005. A mother of two young children and almost finished with her degree in education, Veronica initially thought she was just getting run down. When her condition started to worsen, she and her husband went to Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura, where she was diagnosed with viral myocarditis.
In Veronica's case, the virus caused acute damage to her heart and it could not pump blood forcefully enough to sustain her vital organs. With Veronica's heart failing the quick-thinking surgeons decided to implant a temporary ventricular assist device (VAD) to take over the pumping of her heart.
Veronica had one device on each side of her heart for about two weeks until her doctors felt that her heart was strong enough to pump on its own and could remove it. During that time, Veronica was transferred to UCLA Medical Center in case she needed a transplant. Luckily, the circulatory support she received maintained her organs and, by taking the workload off the heart, allowed it the rest it needed to recover, without having a transplant. Veronica is now back at home with her family and looking forward to graduating next May to become an elementary school teacher.
Thomas Fincher
"There are no words to describe it when a doctor looks at you and says there is nothing he can do," said Jan Fincher, whose husband of 35 years, Thomas Fincher, 56, suffered a massive heart attack last year. On Christmas Eve, he was sent by helicopter to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, where he was implanted with an artificial ventricle to support both sides of his heart."When it would make its swishing sound, it got so I would breathe with it. It gave Thomas his life back," says Jan.
Ten days after going on the device, Thomas' surgeons discovered that he had regained enough heart function to undergo quintuple bypass surgery and repair his existing damage.
Since coming home, he has been able to return to many of things he used to enjoy, including fishing and cooking for his wife and daughter.
Matt Hess
was fourteen years old when he came down with flu-like symptoms. Over the course of a weekend, he became so sick that he had difficulty getting himself dressed. That Monday, instead of taking him to see the family doctor, his mother drove him straight to the emergency room.Shortly after arriving, Matt went into cardiac arrest, and he was airlifted for treatment. The clinical team worked on him for four hours before coming out to talk to his parents. Desperately ill from a virus that had attacked his heart, the doctors offered the family only two choices: do nothing and let him die, or put him on a Circulatory Support System to let his heart rest and recover, which he did.
Now 18, Matt is back in school and doing well. He enjoys playing basketball with his friends and is happy to share his experience with other young people recovering from sudden heart failure.
Elizabeth Yonushka
Elizabeth Yonushka, 80, recovered her heart more than 13 years ago and is doing well. A former nurse, she had gone in for surgery to repair a valve in her heart but she went into a dangerous situation called cardiogenic shock. Roughly 1-2 percent of heart surgeries lead to post-cardiotomy cardiogenic shock, meaning that the patient cannot safely be separated from the heart lung machine.Fortunately for Elizabeth a new technology had just become available that pumped her blood while her heart rested. She was on the technology for a few days until her heart could beat well on its own. Her and her husband, Jonathan, live in Pennsylvania and are doing well.
Andy Sarricchio
Andy Sarricchio, 37, started to have chest pains and needed surgery to repair his mitral valve. His surgery went well until he could not come off the heart-lung machine. His surgeons inserted an intra-aortic balloon pump and put him on drugs called inotropes that increase the contractions of the heart muscles. Still, the right side of Andy's heart needed more support to pump enough blood to his body.Andy was put on a medical device to support his heart and he rested in the hospital as his heart muscles healed. Within a few days his doctors were able to explant the heart pump as his heart had recovered. He is now at home, doing well, with his wife and young daughter.
