Nice story with the device being able to save her life, versus the alternative of perhaps waiting for a heart transplant...
She did for more than a decade until, at age 28, the schoolteacher and mother felt a sudden change. "I woke up and I felt like I couldn't breathe, and it just got worse," she said. "I couldn't walk maybe two or three steps without feeling like I had to gasp for air."
It turned out that one of the drugs doctors gave her as part of her cancer treatment had weakened her heart.The new device, which is just a third of the size of earlier assist devices, was designed to fit smaller frames, like those of women and teens. Doctors implanted it just below the heart, and it was powered by an external battery carried like a backpack.
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