Medical Advancements for Heart Patients and Beyond
A couple weeks ago I read something that really caught me off guard. I didn’t believe it, I didn’t want to believe it, I couldn’t believe it. A person “is eligible for two heart (transplants) in a lifetime.” The words stuck in my mind as I began to understand the ramifications that this could have for my own son someday. My next immediate thought was one of deep sadness for the parents and children who have already begun this journey. Wonderful and caring people who already know what I was just finding out… That without some major medical advances their child will probably not have the long and happy life that every parent wishes for their children. You see, on average, a heart transplant lasts 10 years. The second, even less.
Before that day two weeks ago I was oblivious to this reality so it was difficult for me to believe. Our cardiologists and surgeons have said that someday Evan will need a heart transplant. At the time I didn’t give any thought to what happens after that… another transplant, and then another, and then…. I tried to find some information to corroborate this lifetime maximum comment and I couldn’t. After speaking with someone at the hospital what I learned is that there is technically not a lifetime maximum. I was relieved at first, but then we kept talking…It is a case by case basis and it is very unlikely that a candidate would receive a third heart. The reasoning? By the time someone is in need of a third heart (15-20 years on average) their body has taken quite a toll from anti-rejection medications and coronary artery disease. Their kidneys and other organs are not in good shape (many heart transplant patients also eventually need kidney transplants) and they are probably not a good candidate for a transplant.
We have high hopes for Evan’s heart, his valves are not leaking and the vessels are not constricted. Hopefully the transplant discussion is a long way off. All they are able to tell us right now is that it could be 5 years or it could be 35 years… we will just have to wait and see.
There is hope. There are amazing medical advances going on in these areas. Take a few minutes and watch these two videos of a couple of the technologies that are currently being researched and that I believe will be available during Evan’s lifetime. The first is only 3 and a half minutes and is an artificial heart, but not like you would expect. This one is a continuous flow turbine…no heart beat, the blood just continuously flows throughout the body and it has already been successfully put into a human. The second video is a special from NOVA on PBS from a couple years ago that will really blow your mind. Researchers are able to regrow organs using your own cells. This means zero rejection because your body doesn’t see it as foreign.
I’m so grateful for the people that come up with these ideas, the people that fund them, and all the work that is being done. I look forward to the day that an organ transplant isn’t just a short term solution.
Heart Stop Beating | Jeremiah Zagar from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo.
