Last spring 14 year-old D'Zhana Simmons and her parents learned she had an enlarged heart that was too weak to sufficiently pump blood. They traveled from their home in Clinton, South Carolina to Holtz Children's Hospital in Miami for a heart transplant. But her new heart didn't work properly and could have ruptured so surgeons removed it two days later. And they did something unusual: They replaced the heart with a pair of artificial pumping devices that kept blood flowing through her body until she could have a second transplant. D’Zhana lived for 118 days without a heart. Since July, she's had two heart transplants and survived with artificial heart pumps — but no heart — for four months between the transplants.
The pumps, ventricular assist devices, are typically used with a heart still in place to help the chambers circulate blood. With D'Zhana's heart removed, doctors at Holtz Children's Hospital crafted substitute heart chambers using a fabric and connected these to the two pumps. Although artificial hearts have been approved for adults, none has been federally approved for use in children. That's because it's rarer for them to have these life-threatening conditions, so companies don't invest as much into technology that could help them.
During the almost four months between her two transplants, D'Zhana wasn't able to breathe on her own half the time. She also had kidney and liver failure and gastrointestinal bleeding. Taking a short stroll — when she felt up for it — required the help of four people, at least one of whom would steer the photocopier-sized machine that was the external part of the pumping devices.
D'Zhana said now she's grateful for small things: She'll see her five siblings soon, and she can spend time outdoors. Doctors say she'll be able to do most things that teens do, like attending school and going out with friends. She will be on lifelong medication to keep her body from rejecting the donated heart, and there's a 50-50 chance she'll need another transplant before she turns 30. For now, though, D'Zhana is looking forward to celebrating another milestone. On Saturday, she turns 15 and plans to spend the day riding in a boat off Miami's coast. She was released Wednesday from the hospital.
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