David Pierce used to get short of breath every time he climbed the half-flight of stairs in his suburban Detroit home. Four years ago the machinist’s congestive heart disease, which had forced him to retire early from his job at General Motors, had advanced to end-stage. At the time, Pierce was one of 3,200 such heart patients vying for one of the 2,000 donor hearts that become available each year in the U.S. Pierce’s doctor, Frank Pagani at the University of Michigan Medical Center, decided to implant an experimental pump that would keep him alive until the right heart could be found. Read full article below.
