Lifesaving heart pump made by Danvers company saved teen’s life after he collapsed

Tim Deits of California was working out at his home gym one day when he suddenly collapsed, leaving his parents to find him motionless on the floor.

“They came back just at the right time. My skin was already gray, earlobes were blue and I was going down fast,” Deits told the Herald, adding that he has no memory of the event.

He was rushed to the hospital, during which time his heart failed three times.

Instead of having to be transferred to a larger hospital to have a heart transplant, Deits was saved by the Impella heart pump, made by Danvers-based medical device company, Abiomed.

He was the first child in the United States to have undergone the procedure. The pump is catheter-based technology that is often inserted in an artery by the groin and routed up to the heart.

The lifesaving device used by more than 170,000 patients globally pumps blood to vital organs so the heart can rest and recover.

Deits needed one Impella pump for each side of the heart and stayed on it for six days while in a medically induced coma. He returned home on Thanksgiving Day after spending two weeks in the hospital, making the holiday more special than ever.

Deits was just 16 at the time of the issue, which was caused by taking too much caffeine-laden pre-workout supplements coupled with an undiagnosed heart condition called arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy.

On Friday, he visited Abiomed to celebrate the fifth anniversary of overcoming the near-death experience, and to meet the employees who made the pumps that saved his life.

“It’s just so awe-inspiring seeing all the work that goes into it and knowing that all of this is what saved me,” Deits said.

The Impella heart pump, which is the world’s smallest heart pump, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2015 and is in nearly all U.S. hospitals that have a cardiac catheterization lab. It can stay in a patient’s heart for up to 14 days while the body’s most vital organ rests and recovers.

Addressing a group of about six Abiomed employees, Deits said, “It’s amazing seeing the faces behind it, you guys are the reason I’m here. Thank you.”

Jamie Pernaa, patient advocacy specialist at Abiomed, said hearing patient stories like Deits’ are the best part of the job.

“It’s inspirational that they’ve been able to recover and live their normal lives,” Pernaa told the Herald.

Now, Deits is living a full life with a career working on Porsches. He has been back to Abiomed three times for patient summits and even interned there a couple years ago.

“I was just able to brush it off and keep going. There’s no greater motivation and failure,” Deits said.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3jSFmS7