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Patient Stories
“The biggest thing in my mind was, I hope it works – and it has,” says Rick Marcus, just weeks after the new heart pump was implanted. “The VAD gives us the opportunity to wait for a heart and the opportunity to be selective. This way we can be sure we get the right heart and don’t have to take the chances of a mismatch.” “We are so grateful that Dr. DeBakey developed this pump and that it was developed in time to save Travis,” says Rick. “He spent 56 days on the DeBakey and there’s no way he would have made it on ECMO that long; he might have lasted two or three weeks at the most.”
Haven was born in January 2006 with a congenital heart defect — pulmonary stenosis. In simpler terms, the artery that connects her heart to her lungs was almost completely closed. She had her first heart surgery at 11 days old, but when they took her off the vent after the surgery, her stats started dropping. She was placed on ECMO, a heart-lung bypass machine, and improved dramatically over the next 36 hours. Now 1 year old, she still has feeding/eating problems but her heart continues to grow and work better. If all goes well, she will need her next surgery sometime next year.
Arkansas Children's Hospital, 1 Children’s Way, Little Rock, AR 72202-3591, (501) 364-1100 or TDD (501) 364-1184
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During
his birth, Matthew Connell aspirated meconium and was given a 10 percent chance
of survival. Shortly after being airlifted to ACH, Matthew went into cardiac
arrest. The staff in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) revived him, and
he was placed on ECMO (a heart-lung bypass machine) to allow his lungs to clear.
He was on the ECMO machine for five days and then moved to the NICU, where
he stayed for two weeks. Matthew is now a normal 7-year-old who enjoys playing Star
Wars, doing taekwondo, playing soccer and drawing. 
Fourteen-year-old Travis was a high risk candidate for the DeBakey VAD Child device, but he had no other options. The DeBakey VAD Child allowed Travis’ organs time to recover from heart failure, allowing his body to be more prepared for transplant, once a heart became available. 
