He wears his heart on his… back?

Last winter, Deyven Ferreras started to feel a bit weak. He was extra tired during the day and had trouble catching his breath before falling asleep. The eighteen-year-old from Providence, R.I., attributed the weakness to the fact that he wasn’t exercising as much as he did in the warmer months, when he regularly played basketball with his friends. Over spring break, however, the situation grew dramatically worse. Deyven felt nauseous and assumed he had the flu—until a regularly scheduled doctor’s visit revealed he was actually in heart failure. Deyven’s mother rushed him to the nearest hospital for a full cardiac evaluation. He was admitted and stayed for five days until he was well enough to be discharged home. Unfortunately, his symptoms worsened over the weekend, and the doctors wanted to see him first thing Monday morning. “I had an AP science exam that morning,” Deyven said. “They told me to miss it, but I really wanted to take that test…I went to the hospital right after.” Despite his attempts to attend school every day, it became evident that Deyven needed the specialized care of Boston Children’s Heart Failure/ Heart Transplant Program, one of the largest heart transplant programs in the country. The program’s transplant team is comprised of various specialists who have pioneered advances in heart failure treatment and surgery. Deyven’s cardiologist, Christina Vanderpluym, MD, director of the Mechanical Circulatory Support Program, told...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - Category: Pediatrics Authors: Tags: Heart conditions Our patients’ stories congestive heart failure heart transplant Heart transplant program VAD Source Type: news