TUCSON, Ariz., Jan. 13, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Before Steve Williams received the SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart implant to eliminate his end-stage biventricular heart failure, he was afraid to go to sleep because he feared he would never wake up.
Read how the SynCardia Total Artificial Heart saved the life of California surfer Steve Williams.
Now back at his Huntington Beach, California, home with the Freedom® portable driver that powers his SynCardia Total Artificial Heart, Williams says he’s sleeping better than he has in months.
Steve Williams, 53, a key account manager for Motorola Solutions, is conscientious about his heart health. High cholesterol and heart disease run in his family. His mother has a pacemaker and his nephew had a heart transplant four years ago. Since 1996 he regularly sees a cardiologist and took medication to control his cholesterol.
In 2005 he was diagnosed with left ventricular hypertrophy (enlargement of the left ventricle wall) and cardiomyopathy (weakening of the heart muscle). As the conditions worsened, Williams, a former athlete, had trouble breathing. He had to stop to catch his breath while getting to connecting flights on his sales trips. He gradually gave up tennis, then surfing, then golf.
His lungs constantly filled with fluid. “I went to the hospital several times early in 2014,” says Williams. “Because I couldn’t breathe, I was afraid that if I went to sleep, I wouldn’t wake up.”
It was during one of those hospital stays, March 31, 2014, when Williams suffered sudden cardiac arrest and fell into a coma. “The hospital called my wife and told her, ‘You may want to come and say good-bye to him,’” he says.
Doctors used therapeutic hyperthermia, reducing Williams’ body temperature some five degrees, in order to minimize any brain injury from the heart attack. He revived April 3 and two days later he was taken by ambulance to Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute more than an hour away.
Williams already had several visits with a cardiologist at the Los Angeles hospital as part of his efforts to stay ahead of the effects of heart disease. Now he would depend on surgeons to save his life.
Tests showed that a left ventricle assist device (LVAD) would not be adequate because Williams’ right ventricle was also failing. With no matching donor heart immediately available, he accepted surgeons’ recommendation to have the SynCardia Total Artificial Heart, which they implanted April 17, 2014.
Like a heart transplant, the SynCardia Heart eliminates the source of end-stage biventricular heart failure in which the two heart ventricles can no longer pump enough blood for the patient to survive. It is approved as a bridge to a donor heart transplant.
Williams felt he had to do what was necessary to get himself to a matching donor heart transplant. “I knew the end point was worth getting to,” says Williams. “The journey didn’t scare me.”
After he became clinically stable, Williams received the 13.5-pound Freedom portable driver May 13, 2014. The Freedom portable driver powers the SynCardia Total Artificial Heart while providing patients with nearly unlimited mobility. It can be worn in a backpack, carried in a shoulder bag or wheeled on a cart.
Williams was discharged from the hospital May 22, 2014. He says he was happy to get back to his own bed. “Near the end of my hospital stay I got cranky because I couldn’t sleep,” he explains. “When I got home, I could sleep because (hospital staff) weren’t poking me. I love that.”
As he awaits his matching donor heart, Williams walks several miles a day, visits the beach, goes shopping and spends more time with his 18-year-old son and 15-year-old daughter.
“It’s nice to be home with my family,” he says. “It is a blessing to see my kids every day. I’m looking forward to getting my donor heart transplant.”
For additional information, please visit: http://www.syncardia.com/
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About the SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart
SynCardia Systems, Inc. in Tucson, Arizona is the privately-held owner and manufacturer of the world’s first and only FDA, Health Canada and CE approved Total Artificial Heart for use as a bridge to transplant for people suffering from end-stage biventricular heart failure in which both ventricles can no longer pump enough blood for a person to survive.
More than 1,350 implants of the SynCardia Total Artificial Heart accounts for over 400 patient years of life on the device. Since January 2010 more than 550 SynCardia Hearts have been implanted.
The youngest patient to receive a SynCardia Heart was 9 years old; the oldest was 76 years old. The longest a patient has lived with a SynCardia Heart was nearly four years (1,374 days) before receiving a successful donor heart transplant Sept. 11, 2011.
SynCardia Systems also manufactures the Freedom® portable driver, which powers the SynCardia Heart while allowing clinically stable patients to be discharged from the hospital to live at home and in their communities. The wearable Freedom driver has been used by more than 200 patients, accounting for over 120 years of support.
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150113/168802
To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/heart-failure-patient-sleeps-better-knowing-he-has-the-syncardia-total-artificial-heart-300019791.html
SOURCE SynCardia Systems, Inc.
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