A man survived for more than a year without a heart and even played sports with his friends during that time.
Stan Larkin was kept alive by an “artificial heart”, which was strapped to his back for 555 days while he awaited a transplant in a case that has amazed the medical world.
The then 25-year-old was diagnosed with familial cardiomyopathy – a type of heart failure that can strike without warning and kill people no matter how healthy they are.
The condition is also linked to sudden death among athletes and Stan’s brother Dominique also suffers from it as well.
Stan desperately needed a new heart, which meant he would have to stay in hospital so he could be monitored until he had a transplant.
But instead doctors at the University of Michigan installed the 13lb temporary total artificial heart (TAH) SyncArdia device while he waited for a donor.
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