Young Mom Waiting for Donor Heart at UMC Enjoys Gift of ‘Freedom’ this Valentine’s Day | AHSC Office of Public Affairs

Young Mom Waiting for Donor Heart at UMC Enjoys Gift of ‘Freedom’ this Valentine’s Day

TUCSON, Ariz.—A Southern Arizona woman has become the first Total Artificial Heart patient in Tucson to leave the hospital while awaiting a heart transplant, thanks to a portable machine that powers her heart.

Marcela Padilla, 21, walked out of University Medical Center Jan. 20 with a backpack slung over her shoulder. Inside was the Freedom portable driver, powering the SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart implanted in her chest.

Padilla is the fifth person and the first woman in the nation to use the Freedom, which is undergoing a U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved clinical study in the United States. The driver is approved for commercial use in Europe.

M. Cristina Smith, MD, director of Heart Transplant and Ventricular-Assist Device Services, and assistant professor of surgery at the University of Arizona Department of Surgery, said the Freedom gives hope to those awaiting transplant.

via opa.ahsc.arizona.edu

Here is some good news for potential heart transplant patients.