Talk about miracles and birthday wishes coming true! Wow!
For Ken Miller of Michigan, there’s no way to have a more exciting birthday, because this year he got a “heart in a box” as his birthday gift.
Ken has made history as the first person in Michigan to undergo a groundbreaking heart transplant procedure in which the new heart was transplanted while still beating. Ken had been fighting heart failure for over ten years following a heart attack in 2013. This event led to his retirement from his 30-year career in the dairy industry, and doctors advised him that only a new heart could offer hope for improvement.
Over the next few years, Ken’s heart became so damaged that it grew to twice the normal size, and he went into kidney failure as well. However, on his 58th birthday, the father and grandfather received the news that he would be receiving a new heart and kidney. He said this gave him “a new lease on life.”
He said he thought it was ‘simply a miracle.’
Ken is one of only 70 Americans who have received a beating-heart transplant, an intervention aimed at addressing the demand for more than 3,500 people in the US awaiting a heart transplant. Typically, during a heart transplant, the organ is stopped, removed from the deceased donor, and transported on ice to the hospital. However, these organs can only remain viable on ice for about four hours, which means they can only travel a limited distance to reach the recipient. This limitation restricts the number of organs available to people in need.
But a ‘heart in a box,’ kept pumping during transport, stays viable for longer periods, allowing it to be transported further away and accessible to more patients.
Dr Kyle Miletic, a cardiac and transplant surgeon at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit who led the procedure, said in a press release: ‘The heart in a box is like a mini heart and lung machine that we use for traditional open-heart surgery. Surgeons stop the heart at the donor hospital and put it on this machine.’
He explained that the machine restarts the heart, providing it with all the blood and nutrients it needs to stay healthy. So, while it’s being transported to Henry Ford Hospital, the heart never loses its blood supply and never stops beating until it’s removed from the device. The heart only stopped once, when it was first removed from the donor and then placed, still beating, into Ken’s chest. Stopping the heart only once reduces recovery time and the risk of future complications.
Dr. Miletic mentioned that although operating on a beating heart was more difficult than operating on a still one, the heart was significantly stronger and more resilient. He explained that stopping the heart a second time could weaken it, potentially leading to the need for machine support after a transplant and longer recovery times for the patient. However, if the heart only had to stop once, the muscle would remain stronger, resulting in better outcomes for the patient. Following the procedure in May, Ken didn’t require any additional medical support, and he and his new heart are recovering well.
With this new technology, Ken’s new heart traveled several hundred miles to get to him.
The first-ever beating-heart transplant was performed just last March by a team at Stanford University, which they called ‘revolutionary.’
Ken is now really looking forward to enjoying the small things he has missed, including walking upstairs and taking his dog for a stroll.
And Ken eagerly said about his newfound freedom, “I live comfortably with my rescue dog, Chip, and I’m excited to go home and relax and get back to normal – to see my children and grandchildren, to sit and play my guitar again.
‘I’m so grateful to these doctors to be able to say that. I knew I’d need a new heart one day. I never dreamed it would be this special.”
Happy Birthday, Ken!
And may you have many, MANY more!
Sources:
https://www.victorchang.edu.au/heart-in-a-box
https://www.mountsinai.org/health-library/diseases-conditions/heart-failure-overview
https://www.henryford.com/news/2024/06/beating-heart-transplant
https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2023/04/beating-heart-transplant.html