I came across this article tonight. Thought it was just amazing!
Without a heart, but with plenty of soul
A Miami Gardens man is living without a heart while he waits for a transplant -- his second.
By JACOB GOLDSTEIN
[email protected]
Louis James Quarterman has no heart.
He is, his doctors believe, the first Floridian to hold that unenviable distinction.
Two clear plastic pumps, each about the size of a man's fist, rest on the outside of his stomach and tick along like clocks. Four synthetic tubes run out of his chest, carrying blood to and from the pumps. Quarterman can feel the pumps thump against his belly.
''They don't care about anything; they just go and go,'' Quarterman said.
The heart he lost two weeks ago -- when doctors removed it in a 10-hour operation at Jackson Memorial Hospital -- was not his own. It was a failing donor heart he received 12 years ago, just before his 50th birthday.
In an interview Friday, Quarterman, lying in bed in the intensive care unit, called the pain he has gone through since the operation ''hell.'' His voice and hands trembled, but his eyes were clear.
''I see a bright future,'' he said. ``Everything was not looking good before.''
Quarterman, who was a supervisor at the Miami-Dade recorder's office, stopped working last June when his donor heart began to fail, which often happens years after a transplant. Then, in the kind of cascade that often sets in as death approaches, his kidneys began to fail, as well.
''If we hadn't done this operation, he wouldn't be here today,'' said Dr. Si Pham, who runs Jackson's heart transplant program.
Pumps like those attached to Quarterman, known as ventricular assist devices, are typically attached to patients' hearts to help them pump more effectively. Pham chose a different course -- removing nearly all of Quarterman's heart -- to allow Quarterman to stop taking the immunosuppressive drugs he had needed since receiving the donor heart.
The drugs prevent the body from rejecting a donated organ. But they weaken the immune system and can damage the kidneys. Going off the drugs should ease Quarterman's kidney failure and help his immune system fight infections, Pham said.
Quarterman's pumps are powered by a washing machine-sized unit that plugs into the wall, and are meant to keep him alive only until a suitable organ donor can be found. Quarterman will need both a heart and a kidney, which may increase his wait time. He will require a heart and kidney from a donor with compatible tissue.
Pham wouldn't speculate on how long that might take. Because procedures like this one have been done only a few dozen times anywhere in the world, it's unclear how long Quarterman will be able to wait. In one documented case, a patient in Germany waited for nine months before receiving a transplant.
''It's a lot of careful assembly of patient to pump to get things aligned well,'' said Dr. Robert Kormos, director of the University of Pittsburgh's artificial heart program. ``It's not an easy way to manage a patient.''
Procedures like this are mind-bogglingly expensive. Dr. Pham couldn't pinpoint an overall figure, but said the pumps alone cost $75,000 each. Quarterman said his insurance is footing the bill.
Quarterman is a widower. His daughter, Rajii, visits him every day in the hospital. She called him ''very strong-willed, very determined'' and ''very, very optimistic.'' His 9-year-old grandson, Eugene, whom he called ''a fine young man,'' sometimes visits, as well. Quarterman will likely remain in the hospital unless and until he receives donor organs.
When he leaves, he said, he'd like to play $2 Texas Hold 'Em at the Hard Rock Casino.
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© 2006 MiamiHerald.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.miami.com
Without a heart, but with plenty of soul
A Miami Gardens man is living without a heart while he waits for a transplant -- his second.
By JACOB GOLDSTEIN
[email protected]
Louis James Quarterman has no heart.
He is, his doctors believe, the first Floridian to hold that unenviable distinction.
Two clear plastic pumps, each about the size of a man's fist, rest on the outside of his stomach and tick along like clocks. Four synthetic tubes run out of his chest, carrying blood to and from the pumps. Quarterman can feel the pumps thump against his belly.
''They don't care about anything; they just go and go,'' Quarterman said.
The heart he lost two weeks ago -- when doctors removed it in a 10-hour operation at Jackson Memorial Hospital -- was not his own. It was a failing donor heart he received 12 years ago, just before his 50th birthday.
In an interview Friday, Quarterman, lying in bed in the intensive care unit, called the pain he has gone through since the operation ''hell.'' His voice and hands trembled, but his eyes were clear.
''I see a bright future,'' he said. ``Everything was not looking good before.''
Quarterman, who was a supervisor at the Miami-Dade recorder's office, stopped working last June when his donor heart began to fail, which often happens years after a transplant. Then, in the kind of cascade that often sets in as death approaches, his kidneys began to fail, as well.
''If we hadn't done this operation, he wouldn't be here today,'' said Dr. Si Pham, who runs Jackson's heart transplant program.
Pumps like those attached to Quarterman, known as ventricular assist devices, are typically attached to patients' hearts to help them pump more effectively. Pham chose a different course -- removing nearly all of Quarterman's heart -- to allow Quarterman to stop taking the immunosuppressive drugs he had needed since receiving the donor heart.
The drugs prevent the body from rejecting a donated organ. But they weaken the immune system and can damage the kidneys. Going off the drugs should ease Quarterman's kidney failure and help his immune system fight infections, Pham said.
Quarterman's pumps are powered by a washing machine-sized unit that plugs into the wall, and are meant to keep him alive only until a suitable organ donor can be found. Quarterman will need both a heart and a kidney, which may increase his wait time. He will require a heart and kidney from a donor with compatible tissue.
Pham wouldn't speculate on how long that might take. Because procedures like this one have been done only a few dozen times anywhere in the world, it's unclear how long Quarterman will be able to wait. In one documented case, a patient in Germany waited for nine months before receiving a transplant.
''It's a lot of careful assembly of patient to pump to get things aligned well,'' said Dr. Robert Kormos, director of the University of Pittsburgh's artificial heart program. ``It's not an easy way to manage a patient.''
Procedures like this are mind-bogglingly expensive. Dr. Pham couldn't pinpoint an overall figure, but said the pumps alone cost $75,000 each. Quarterman said his insurance is footing the bill.
Quarterman is a widower. His daughter, Rajii, visits him every day in the hospital. She called him ''very strong-willed, very determined'' and ''very, very optimistic.'' His 9-year-old grandson, Eugene, whom he called ''a fine young man,'' sometimes visits, as well. Quarterman will likely remain in the hospital unless and until he receives donor organs.
When he leaves, he said, he'd like to play $2 Texas Hold 'Em at the Hard Rock Casino.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
© 2006 MiamiHerald.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.miami.com
