A Sanford teenager and UF Health Shands Hospital patient is in the process of receiving a portable battery pack for her temporary and completely artificial heart.
Having received the heart implant in June, 16-year-old Nalexia Henderson and her family are now being trained to adapt their lifestyles to the wearable Freedom Portable Driver for Henderson’s SynCardia artificial heart, which will allow her to return home after spending roughly seven months at Shands.
“We’re going to make sure everything is perfect before she goes,” said Dr. Mark Bleiweis, director of the Congenital Heart Center and professor of surgery and pediatrics at UF Health.
But perfect could mean weeks or months of waiting.
Henderson’s heart has been hooked up to a washing machine-sized power supply dubbed “Big Blue.” Big Blue restricts her movements, making her completely bound to the hospital.
Bleiweis said giving patients the portable battery is a European practice, but the medical team hopes to bring the same careful protocols to the U.S., so Henderson can leave the hospital.
“Like any other person waiting for her transplant, she’s been a little impatient,” he said. “But she’s been amazingly tolerant of being in the hospital and everything that goes on in an ICU.”
Henderson said she first thought the symptoms of her heart troubles were caused by a stomach virus, but after days with no relief, her mom said, “We need to go to Gainesville.”
They left around 4 a.m., and after being held at Shands, the doctors broke the news — severe cardiac allograft vasculopathy, which is damage to the coronary arteries associated with heart transplants.
Henderson had her first heart transplant in 2007 after her heart became enlarged and weakened, but in May 2013, she began experiencing heart failure again.
Bleiweis said after stabilizing Henderson with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, a method of providing blood to the body when the heart needs assistance, there was need for a long-term option.
He said there are documented cases where patients have had the synthetic heart for more than a year, and with careful monitoring, there is potential to function with the heart for a long period of time.
After replacing Henderson’s heart with a SynCardia in June, her previously failing organs recovered completely.
Now, she is in perfect condition to receive a new heart.
“I’m just waiting for a heart any moment now,” Henderson said.
A version of this story ran on page 4 on 12/2/2013 under the headline "Shands gives teen new heart"
