This is an update to my July 31, 2012 post, The Man With No Heart. In that post, I wrote about my neighbor’s father, Lennie Nugent. Lennie’s heart was in such bad shape that doctors removed it and replaced it with a plastic and Velcro artificial heart that operates using compressed air. If you haven’t read that post, you should go there now and read it before continuing here. There’s a video on that page showing Lennie giving testimony in his church. If you listen carefully you may hear the artificial heart operating.
Yesterday, a suitable donor heart arrived at the hospital and the family was summoned, the surgical team was assembled, and during the night the transplant team implanted the new heart into Lennie’s chest. Kristie, my neighbor and Lennie’s daughter, posted the good news on Facebook this morning at 4 AM. She says the surgery went well and Lennie’s new heart is functioning as it should. I don’t know Lennie but I wish him well. Being tethered to a machine with plastic tubes going into your body is not a good way to live.
If I could I would ask Lennie, after so long without a heartbeat, does it feel strange to once again have a heart beating in your chest? It must feel especially good to get out of bed and not worry about carrying a machine everywhere you go. No more looking for electrical outlets to charge the batteries that run the machine that keeps you alive: that must feel like a special kind of freedom.
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