Veronica Salas developed viral myocarditis over Christmas 2005 and recovered 12 days later with the help of Bi-VAD BVS 5000T. Dr. Dominic Tedesco at Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura, CA, implanted Bi-VAD BVS 5000, which supported her heart for 12 days. She was transferred to UCLA, for further care, where her heart recovered. She is now back at home with her family and looking forward to becoming an elementary school teacher.

Rosemary Donaghue In January 2006, Mrs. Rosemary Donaghue recovered her heart after Bi-VAD assistance from the AB5000. Mrs. Donaghue recently had a heart attack and, following surgery, went into cardiogenic shock. She was intubated, on inotropes and an intra-aortic balloon pump, but she needed more support to pump her blood and rest her heart. Her only chance for survival was more potent circulatory support, so Dr. Lou Samuels placed her on biventricular (Bi-VAD) AB5000 circulatory support. Following 11 days of Abiomed Ventricular Assist Device (VAD) support, her heart was able to function on its own.

Bonnie Rosenhan Following open heart surgery, Bonnie Rosenhan suffered postcardiotomy cardiogenic shock but was able to recover her own heart after five days of AB5000 support. In order to repair her valve she had open-heart surgery at St. Mark's Hospital in Salt Lake City, UT. Following the surgery, she suffered postcardiotomy cardiogenic shock (PCCS) and was placed on AB5000 support for five days while her heart recovered. She is now at home with her family.

David Jones suffered from viral myocarditis but avoided a heart transplant through six days of Bi-VAD BVS 5000 support. He was flown to Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte, NC where doctors discovered he was suffering from viral myocarditis. He was placed on Bi-VAD BVS 5000 support. After six days, his heart recovered and he was able to avoid having a transplant. He is back at work as an independent contractor and recently went to Capitol Hill to represent outstanding patient outcomes with medical technology.

Avimael Santos was 39 years old when he suffered cardiac arrest and shock following a procedure to repair a heart valve. Dr. Charles Moore at the University of Texas Health Science Center implanted the BVS 5000, a temporary heart assist device. The BVS did the pumping for his heart for two weeks, after which he was switched to a longer-term device and received a heart transplant at CHRISTUS Transplant Institute in San Antonio, Texas. Since his transplant, Avimael and his wife have welcomed a new baby into their family.

Brian Bluver of Oceanside, NY was only thirteen years old when his heart failed. He had always been a good athlete, and had been training for a summer biking expedition in the Canadian Rockies. Therefore, when a run to home plate during a baseball game left him out of breath, his family immediately took him to see their general practitioner.

His family doctor was shocked by the condition of this young, previously healthy teen. He was diagnosed with viral myocarditis, a virus that attacks the heart and is often deadly. He ended up at Columbia Presbyterian, where Dr. Mehmet Oz implanted him with the BVS 5000 to support the left side of his heart. As such a young heart patient, his story garnered a great deal of attention. While he was on support, members of the New York Rangers, having just won the Stanley Cup, visited him in his hospital room and gave him a hockey stick from the winning game. Determined to be a good host despite the circumstances, Brian fought back nausea caused by his medications until his prestigious guests left.

Brian's determination and positive outlook helped him as he faced uncertainty about his outcome and then the long recovery. He was supported by the device for two weeks, and then received a heart transplant. After 70 days in the hospital, he came home a changed person. He would no longer be able to play varsity level sports – in fact, after so much time in bed, he had to learn to walk again. He remained, however, a very focused young man. He went to University of Miami for undergraduate work, and now, at the age of 23, is on track to complete both law school and an MBA program this spring. He plans to work in finance when he graduates.

Matt Hess of Monk's Corner, SC was fourteen years old when he came down with some flu-like symptoms. Over the course of a weekend, he became so sick that he had difficulty getting himself dressed. That Monday, instead of taking him to see the family doctor, his mother drove him straight to the emergency room.

Shortly after arriving, Matt went into cardiac arrest, and he was airlifted via helicopter to MUSC for treatment. The clinical team worked on him for four hours before coming out to talk to his parents. Desperately ill from a virus that had attacked his heart, the doctors offered the family only two choices: do nothing and let him die, or put him on ABIOMED's BVS 5000 Circulatory Support System to let his heart rest and hopefully recover.

Of course, the family chose the option that had a chance of saving his life, the BVS 5000. Matt went into cardiac arrest another 4 times while they were implanting the device. Once implanted, however, the BVS 5000 took over the work for his heart and helped him stabilize.

Matt was unconscious for several weeks during this ordeal. When he began to regain consciousness, his mother and the nurses heard him uttering, "Thank you, thank you, thank you." When they asked him who he was talking to he said, "I'm thanking God that I made it."

After finding out how long he'd been in the hospital he added, "Do you know how much makeup homework I'm going to have?" At that point, his family knew that he was going to okay. "

There is no question, that machine saved my son's life," said Matt's mother, Robin Hess. "I think that this device belongs in every hospital."

Although the BVS 5000 did save his life, Matt still had a tough recovery ahead of him. His poor circulation meant that his kidneys stopped functioning correctly, and he required dialysis. In addition, his severe and sudden heart failure resulted in poor circulation to his feet and they needed to be amputated.

Now 16, Matt is back in school. Fitted with prosthetic feet, he enjoys playing basketball with his friends. MUSC will often contact him, and ask him to talk with other children who are going through similar medical ordeals.

Neil Sharp, 68, has a history of heart issues. In 1980, he had eight blocked coronary arteries that required open-heart surgery. Five years later, he needed an additional two coronary artery bypass grafts (CABGs). In 2001, he experienced another two blockages. With precious few "targets" left to be grafted onto, his surgeon, Dr. Richard Morrison at Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee found one vessel he could graft to and used a TMR laser to revascularize the rest of the heart. Although the surgery was successful, he was unable to separate from bypass and required support on both sides of his heart with the BVS 5000. After six days on support, his heart's function returned and he was weaned off the device.

Mr. Sharp is feeling well, and has taken up walking, logging 4 to 6 miles a day. "I'm just blessed," he said. "Every day is a bonus day."

Ricky Walton's father had suffered from heart problems that required him to undergo a double coronary artery bypass. His mother died of a heart attack. His older brother died of a heart attack at the age of 44, and his grandmother was one of the first patients to be implanted with a pacemaker at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. So when Rick experienced numbness in his arms, he took it seriously: Although he'd been about to head out on a motorcycle trip to Biloxi, instead he drove himself directly to the hospital.

The doctors later told him that it was a good thing he did, because without immediate intervention in the face of the massive heart attack he'd suffered, he would have died. The surgical team did six off-pump coronary artery bypass grafts (CABGs). The surgery went well, but when he was being wheeled out of the ICU he ended up going into ventricular fibrillation, after which his heart was unable to recover. He was rushed back into the OR and was put onto a BiVAD BVS for six days, recovered and went home.

"Without the BVS, I don't think I would have had these extra years," said Mr. Walton. Not only is he a success story, he's also a good story of how successful BVS patients can be when they are implanted as soon as possible. "And I wouldn't have gotten to see my first grandson, and he's a blessing," he added.

A locksmith, Mr. Walton is back to work and back to enjoying the things he liked to do before the heart attack. He spends time with his grandson, enjoys motorcycle trips, and volunteers at the cardiac unit in the hospital where his life was saved, Baptist Medical Center, Princeton.

Rudranauth Persaud, a 44 year old software programmer, had just returned from vacation with his wife and three children when he began to experience chest pain. He was taken to North Shore University Hospital, where it was discovered he was having a heart attack. Mr. Persaud was put on Bivad BVS support and later transferred to Mt. Sinai and switched to the AB5000 to give his heart a full chance for recovery. When his heart did not recover, his surgeon listed him for a heart transplant and kept him on AB5000 support for two months.

Mr. Persaud has been discharged home following the transplant, and is recovering and making plans to return to work. " I am so thankful for that machine," said his wife Addie. "Without this machine he would have been dead. I saw first-hand how the AB5000 kept him alive."

Shirley Jackson of Thomaston, GA was on an outing with her grandchildren in July of 2002 when she began to not feel well. After lying down in the truck for a short while, her chest pains got worse, and her arm became numb. Her family cut the outing short to rush her to the hospital, where they found out she'd had a heart attack that damaged half her heart beyond repair. She was 52 years old.

Ms. Jackson's surgeon, Dr. Harvey at Medical Center Central Georgia implanted the BVS 5000 to support the left side of her heart. It was clear that she would need support while waiting for a transplant. Unfortunately, Ms. Jackson had a new job, which meant that she was only eligible for limited health coverage until she had been there for more than a year. Her surgeons began to look for a hospital that would be able to take her case.

After calling everywhere, a hospital was found: in New York. Dr. Jose Garcia at Montefiore Medical Center flew down, helped get Ms. Jackson on a transport plane, and flew her back up to the Medical Center. She was switched to a longer-term device and then transplanted. Dr. Garcia and Montefiore helped the family through every step of the process – not only was she successfully transplanted, but the hospital also helped make sure she could see New York City during her recovery. When it was time to return home, Dr. Garcia drove the family to the airport.

Two years later, Ms. Jackson is doing well, and enjoys shopping and spending time with her grandchildren. Dr. Garcia and his staff call almost monthly to see how she is doing.