HOUSTON—Just looking at Frank DeSantiago, you’d never know his heart doesn’t work. He suffered from flu like symptoms in May, and before he knew it, he was flown to The Texas Children’s Hospital. Doctors there figured out his heart was failing.
DeSantiago’s mother said started panicking when she was told her son needed a heart transplant, and no donors were available.
But thanks to a small 2 ½ pound battery operated heart called the HeartMate II that Dr. David Morales implanted inside DeSantiago’s chest, he will not only survived, but make history too.
You see, DeSantiago is the first child to go home with a mechanical heart while waiting for a transplant.
“This is a huge step for these children. Years ago these children would pass away or they would be hooked up to a machine where all of this would have not been able to happen,” said Dr. Morales of Texas Children’s Medical Center.
This technology is so new experts don’t know how long DeSantiago or any other pediatric patient could live with a mechanical heart, but for now it’s buying him time.
