Baby boy survives a record 120 days on an artificial heart

A baby boy made a record by surviving on an artificial heart for 120 days and is hail and hearty now with his own heart making a remarkable recovery.

London, Aug 25 : A baby boy made a record by surviving on an artificial heart for 120 days and is hail and hearty now with his own heart making a remarkable recovery.

Eight-month-old Jack Vellam was admitted to the hospital in March as he suffered from myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, and there was nothing that the doctors could do for him except keep him on an artificial heart.

Danielle Hastings and Terry Vellam had reluctantly agreed to turn off their son's life-support machine as they had no hopes that his failing heart will recover but they changed their minds after conversations with other parents of sick children on the ward and decided to wait and see if Jack could be given a heart transplant.

"Seeing him in that bed was too much for us. We didn't want him to suffer any more so we said they could turn it off," the Daily Mail quoted Hastings, as saying.

"I had to think whether I'd look back on it and regret not giving Jack every chance possible," she said.

Jack was then temporarily connected to a device known as a Berlin Heart for 20 days and against all the odds he survived on the machine.

The laptop operated device remained outside the body and only the tubes were implanted by being inserted under the ribcage.

Earlier, the longest a child had been connected to the machine in Britain was for 30 days.

ANI