CONNECTED N°21

LEMO in my heart

"LEMO solutions save lives” may sound like an advertising slogan … until you see these very same solutions connected to the body of someone you love.

Magazine • 08 July 2024

LEMO engineer Maggie Carranza tells us all about her experience.

Winter has settled over Colorado. Christmas 2022 is approaching, and decorations light up the streets of Loveland, a pretty town nestled at the foot of the Rocky Mountains.

Meanwhile, a resident of the town John Miszczak is dying.

Lately, his health had suddenly deteriorated. The seventy-two-year-old is transported to University of Colorado Hospital in Denver, at 75km to the South. His condition further worsens as he cannot walk anymore and goes through phases of delirium. He is intubated.

The problem is that his heart couldn’t forgive him for many years of overly stressful work and too many cigarettes. “John has had several heart attacks” explains his stepdaughter, Maggie Carranza. “Including a serious one in 2009 requiring resuscitation.” The old man wears a defibrillator to prevent his heart from stopping and a pacemaker to prevent it from racing.

However, by December 2022, these devices are no longer sufficient.

John had been so much looking forward to playing granddad to his son’s baby girl, born a few months earlier. Then the dream came crashing down, as by Christmas, only the machines are keeping him alive. The analyses are conclusive: the doctors have few options for John Miszczak, his wife Iwona and their son.

The best and most radical solution would be a heart transplant. But John doesn’t have the time to wait for an organ to be available.

Another option is to fit a left ventricular assist device (LVAD), which would then help the heart to send blood to the rest of the body. As often in similar cases, a right ventricular assist device (RVAD) would also need to be connected, to support the functioning of the right ventricle during the operation and recovery. Given the patient’s history, the operation would be extremely risky. Even if successful, they are told, recovery would take long, and life would be complicated afterwards.

LEMO in my heart article for LEMO Connected magazine 21

Another option is to fit a left ventricular assist device (LVAD), which would then help the heart to send blood to the rest of the body. As often in similar cases, a right ventricular assist device (RVAD) would also need to be connected, to support the functioning of the right ventricle during the operation and recovery. Given the patient’s history, the operation would be extremely risky. Even if successful, they are told, recovery would take long, and life would be complicated afterwards.

How about a third option?

There is no other option. They choose to fit a LVAD. John undergoes emergency surgery just before the New Year. He stays more than six hours in the operating theatre.

LEMO in my heart article for Connected Magazine 21

“To see our connectors in a catalogue or to read that our solutions contribute to saving lives is one thing … to see them functioning in real critical situations, especially on a loved one, is another thing. I was feeling even more amazed.”

The engineer stays by her stepfather’s bedside for the whole week following the operation. The intervention has been successful and John Miszczak’s condition is stabilising. The array of life supporting devices are gradually disconnected, the RVAD to start with.

The focus is now on the LVAD, with which John will have to live. All his close family members are involved in the training. Medical staff show them how to clean the place where his power supply cable exits his abdomen. How to use the device safely, first on a training unit, then on John’s. They also show how to change the batteries, how to connect and disconnect the power supply cable – a simple and reliable operation, thanks, once again, to LEMO connectors (REDEL SP Series).

John has to stay a few more months in hospital, supported by his wife Iwona, who sleeps next to him on a camp bed. He goes through three months of intensive kinesitherapy to learn again how to eat and walk. Once back at home, another four months go by before he can walk up stairs, cook or even drive.

John Miszczak is 74 today. His life is indeed more complicated than before. He wraps his torso in plastic every time before taking a shower. He carries his battery pack over his shoulder every time he goes out. And Iwona is not only his wife but she has also become his 24/7 nurse.

But John Miszczak is alive.

When playing with his granddaughter who’s already 2 years old, the survivor forgets about the cable sticking out of his abdomen as well as his bulky batteries. When he plays with her, his heart forgets how fragile it is. John savours every minute of this dream that almost got away from him.

“My mum regularly sends me photos of them”, says Maggie at the end of the story. “I can see the immense joy of my stepfather, his happiness at being the grandfather to his granddaughter. And I just love that.”

LEMO solutions save lives? Yes, they do. For Maggie Carranza and many others, this is no abstract reality

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