Nov 18, 2009 10:22 pm US/Pacific
Irving, TX Man Lives Normally Without A Heartbeat
IRVING, Texas (CBS) ―
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Doctors give Michael LeBlanc a checkup.
CBS
It's part of our being, who we are as humans, and most of us need one
to stay alive. But, you're about to meet an Irving man who is
different, and you'll see the medical breakthrough that keeps him alive
and breathing.
Looking at Michael LeBlanc, it's hard to tell anything is wrong with
him. But, the 40-year old Irving man isn't like most of us. While
nothing seems unusual outside his body, it's what's happening inside
that's extraordinary.
"They told me they wouldn't be able to check my blood pressure the
normal way, and that I wouldn't have a heartbeat," LeBlanc said.
LeBlanc's heart has all but stopped leaving him with virtually no heartbeat.
"It's ok," he said. "It's definitely different, but I'm alive, you know?"
So, how is he alive? It's because of a new device called a Left
Ventricular Assist Device, or L-VAD. Dr. Dan Meyer from U.T.
Southwestern says L-VADs have been around for many years, but patients
had to be hospitalized or carry around heavy equipment.
"[It] is a pump that is placed in the patient's body and allows us to
keep them alive until they can get a transplant," Dr. Meyer said.
This newly redesigned L-VAD model is small enough that it can go
anywhere with the patients giving them the mobility they need to
maintain a normal life.
"The blood goes in and then gets propelled through a rooter, then
through a graft that comes out and is attached to the aorta," Dr. Meyer
explained.
LeBlanc suffers from cardio-myopathy, a condition his doctors believe was caused by a virus that attacked his heart.
"I had a heart attack, and then I had the stroke, and then after the
stroke that was when it seemed like everything else started happening,"
he said.
He's now on the list for a new heart, but Dr. Meyer says with the new L-VAD, LeBlanc can stay active for up to 10 years.
"They can continue their normal lifestyle and actually feel quite good
because these pumps basically overtake the function of their heart,"
Dr. Meyer said.
U.T. Southwestern is one of only two hospitals in the country using
this device, and LeBlanc was the first person in Texas to get it.
"It just kind of freaked me out for a while, but then I said if that's
what we need to do to fix me, then that's what we need to do," LeBlanc
said.
His mother says the device helped bring her son back to life.
"Now he looks healthy," Shearlyn LeBlanc said. "You can't even tell there's anything wrong with him."
Now all they can do is pray his new heart will come soon.
"We have a lot to be thankful for to have our Michael with us at Thanksgiving," she said.
Dr. Meyer says the L-VAD technology has advanced so much in the last
few years that these devices could soon be used instead of a
transplant.
Click here to learn more about this device and the research at U.T. Southwestern.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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