<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/3490350/Girl-14-lives-without-a-heart-for-four-months.html>Girl, 14, lives 'without a heart' for four months
An American teenager survived without a heart for four months, kept alive by a custom-built artificial blood-pumping device, until she was able to have a heart transplant, doctors in Miami said. Last Updated: 3:50PM GMT 20 Nov 2008 D'Zhana Simmons - Girl, 14, lives 'without a heart' for four mo 'It was like I was a fake person, like I didn't really exist. I was just here,' Miss Simmons said Photo: AP The doctors said they knew of another case in which an adult had been kept alive in Germany for nine months without a heart – but that this was the first case they knew of in which a child had survived so long. The patient, D'Zhana Simmons from South Carolina, said the experience of living for so long with a machine pumping her blood was "scary". "You never knew when it would malfunction," she said, her voice barely above a whisper, at a news conference at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Centre. "It was like I was a fake person, like I didn't really exist. I was just here," she said. Miss Simmons, 14, suffered from dilated cardiomyopathy, a condition in which the patient's heart becomes weakened and enlarged and does not pump blood efficiently. She had a heart transplant on July 2 at Miami's Holtz Children's Hospital but the new heart failed to function properly and was quickly removed. Two heart pumps made by Thoratec Corp of Pleasanton, California, were implanted to keep her blood flowing while she fought a host of ailments and recovered her strength. Doctors implanted another heart on Oct 29. "She essentially lived for 118 days without a heart, with her circulation supported only by the two blood pumps," said Dr Marco Ricci, the hospital's director of paediatric cardiac surgery. During that time, D'Zhana was mobile but remained in hospital. When an artificial heart is used to sustain a patient, the patient's own heart is usually left in the body, doctors said. "This, we believe, is the first paediatric patient who has received such a device in this configuration without the heart, and possibly one of the youngest that has been bridged to transplantation without her native heart," Dr Ricci said. Miss Simmons also suffered renal failure and had a kidney transplant the day after the second heart transplant. Dr Ricci said her prognosis was good, although 50 per cent of heart transplant patients need a new heart within 12 or 13 years of their first surgery. <*}}}>< <http://www.holypostage.com/>Holy Postage <*}}}>< <*}}}><<http://www.halfthekingdom.org/>Half the Kingdom!<*}}}>< Prayer for Unborn Life: O GOD OF LIFE AND LOVE, You have given us the gift to participate with You to bring new life into the world. But, all too often, the mother's womb, which should be a nursery of life, becomes instead a place of it's destruction. Help us to remove this evil and ensure respect for all life made in Your image and likeness, called to fulfill its promise on this earth, and destined to find a home with you for all eternity. We ask this through Jesus Christ, Our Lord, Our God, Our Savior, and Our ALL. Amen. <*}}}>< <http://www.holypostage.com/>Holy Postage <*}}}>< <*}}}><<http://www.halfthekingdom.org/>Half the Kingdom!<*}}}>< Prayer for Unborn Life: O GOD OF LIFE AND LOVE, You have given us the gift to participate with You to bring new life into the world. But, all too often, the mother's womb, which should be a nursery of life, becomes instead a place of it's destruction. Help us to remove this evil and ensure respect for all life made in Your image and likeness, called to fulfill its promise on this earth, and destined to find a home with you for all eternity. We ask this through Jesus Christ, Our Lord, Our God, Our Savior, and Our ALL. Amen. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Please note that I do not send or open attachments sent to this list. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Catholics on Fire" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Catholics-on-Fire May the blessing of Jesus and our Blessed Mother be with you -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
