Selwa Hussain, a Woman without heart, but indeed grit to live
It is very surprising that a woman without a heart in her body. She is a rare case in the world, as she carries her artificial heart in a bag.
Yes, Salwa's heart is placed in a bag which she always holds in her lap. The bag is always with her with a device with two batteries weighing 6.8 kg, which is an electric motor and a pump, The batteries push the air into a plastic bag in the patient's chest through attached tubes, for blood circulation in her body.
Salwa Hussein, aged 39, is the only one who lives in Britain. She is married, is the mother of two children, and tries to live a normal life as much as she can, but with a twist!
The heart is considered the most important organ of the body such that even a small dysfunction in it may cause drastic changes in the human organism. But, a woman in Britain lives without it inside her body rather than carries it in her backpack.
Selwa Hussain, a 39-year-old mother of two underwent a life-saving operation so radical that she now, in effect, carries her heart around in a rucksack.
Selwa, the mother to a boy aged five and an 18-month-old girl, said: ‘I was so ill before and after the surgery that it has taken me all this time to get fit enough to come home.’
Inside Selwa’s 15lb backpack are batteries, an electric motor, and a pump that pushes air through tubes to power plastic chambers in her chest which pushes blood around her body.
Selwa’s astonishing story began when she started feeling terribly breathless. She dragged herself to the car and drove 200 yards down the road to see her family doctor in Clayhall, Essex who sent her to a local hospital where she was told she was suffering from severe heart failure.
Four days later, she was rushed by ambulance to the world-famous Harefield Hospital where cardiologists battled to keep her alive.
She was too ill to stay alive on a support pump to help her failing heart – and too ill to be given a heart transplant. So with her life ebbing away, her husband Al agreed to his wife being given an artificial heart.
Selwa’s natural heart was removed by surgeons and replaced with an artificial implant and the specialist unit on her back. Selwa’s backpack contains two sets of batteries to power the motor and she has a second unit on standby in another backpack should the first fail.
Al, or another carer, must be with her constantly and, if disaster strikes, they have 90 seconds to connect her to the backup machine.
Selwa has had months to get used to being kept alive by her ‘heart in a bag’.
It drives blood around her body at 138 beats per minute in a rhythm that causes her chest to vibrate. There is a constant pumping and whirring noise from the motor in the backpack that she wears when she goes out or leaves on the floor when at home.
The two large plastic tubes connected to the backpack enter her body through her tummy button and travel up to her chest. They then fill two balloons inside her chest cavity with air, which works like the chambers of a real heart to push blood round her body.
Experts who examined Selwa’s failed heart concluded that she had a condition called cardiomyopathy that can, in very rare cases, be triggered by pregnancy.
When Selwa first complained of chest pains. GPs mistakenly thought she was suffering from a digestive illness.
An American company made this £86,000 artificial heart, which was fitted during a six-hour operation performed by surgeon Diana Garcia Saez, and assisted by Harefield’s head of transplantation surgery, Mr. Andre Simon. Harefield is the only UK center using the device.
Harefield has been absolutely magnificent. They came up with a solution that allowed her to stay alive to see the New Year in with her family. For that, she is said to be eternally grateful.’
According to Mr. Simon,: ‘The operation went very well and Selwa’s recovery has been excellent.’
Selwa Hussain, a Woman without heart, but indeed grit to live It is very surprising that a woman without a heart in her body. She is a rare case in the world, as she carries her artificial heart in a bag. Yes, Salwa's heart is placed in a bag which she always holds in her lap. The bag is always with her with a device with two batteries weighing 6.8 kg, which is an electric motor and a pump, The batteries push the air into a plastic bag in the patient's chest through attached tubes, for blood circulation in her body. Salwa Hussein, aged 39, is the only one who lives in Britain. She is married, is the mother of two children, and tries to live a normal life as much as she can, but with a twist! The heart is considered the most important organ of the body such that even a small dysfunction in it may cause drastic changes in the human organism. But, a woman in Britain lives without it inside her body rather than carries it in her backpack. Selwa Hussain, a 39-year-old mother of two underwent a life-saving operation so radical that she now, in effect, carries her heart around in a rucksack. Selwa, the mother to a boy aged five and an 18-month-old girl, said: ‘I was so ill before and after the surgery that it has taken me all this time to get fit enough to come home.’ Inside Selwa’s 15lb backpack are batteries, an electric motor, and a pump that pushes air through tubes to power plastic chambers in her chest which pushes blood around her body. Selwa’s astonishing story began when she started feeling terribly breathless. She dragged herself to the car and drove 200 yards down the road to see her family doctor in Clayhall, Essex who sent her to a local hospital where she was told she was suffering from severe heart failure. Four days later, she was rushed by ambulance to the world-famous Harefield Hospital where cardiologists battled to keep her alive. She was too ill to stay alive on a support pump to help her failing heart – and too ill to be given a heart transplant. So with her life ebbing away, her husband Al agreed to his wife being given an artificial heart. Selwa’s natural heart was removed by surgeons and replaced with an artificial implant and the specialist unit on her back. Selwa’s backpack contains two sets of batteries to power the motor and she has a second unit on standby in another backpack should the first fail. Al, or another carer, must be with her constantly and, if disaster strikes, they have 90 seconds to connect her to the backup machine. Selwa has had months to get used to being kept alive by her ‘heart in a bag’. It drives blood around her body at 138 beats per minute in a rhythm that causes her chest to vibrate. There is a constant pumping and whirring noise from the motor in the backpack that she wears when she goes out or leaves on the floor when at home. The two large plastic tubes connected to the backpack enter her body through her tummy button and travel up to her chest. They then fill two balloons inside her chest cavity with air, which works like the chambers of a real heart to push blood round her body. Experts who examined Selwa’s failed heart concluded that she had a condition called cardiomyopathy that can, in very rare cases, be triggered by pregnancy. When Selwa first complained of chest pains. GPs mistakenly thought she was suffering from a digestive illness. An American company made this £86,000 artificial heart, which was fitted during a six-hour operation performed by surgeon Diana Garcia Saez, and assisted by Harefield’s head of transplantation surgery, Mr. Andre Simon. Harefield is the only UK center using the device. Harefield has been absolutely magnificent. They came up with a solution that allowed her to stay alive to see the New Year in with her family. For that, she is said to be eternally grateful.’ According to Mr. Simon,: ‘The operation went very well and Selwa’s recovery has been excellent.’