D’Zhana Simmons felt like a living corpse, without heart in her body for four months.

“But I know that I really was here,” the 14-year-old said, and she did survive without a heart.” She looked scared of what she had suffered while being released from Miami hospital.

Since July, she had underdone two heart transplant surgeries and survived with artificial heart pumps, without heart for 118 days between the transplants.

Last spring D’Zhana’s parents came to know that she had cardiac hypertrophy (enlarged heart) that was too weak to perform function. They took her to Holtz Children’s Hospital in Miami for heart transplantation. But unfortunately her new heart didn’t perform well and could have chances to rupture, so surgeons decide to replace it.

They surgeons performed unusual act and replaced her heart with artificial pumping devices that kept the process of circulation running, till her second transplant.

Dr. Peter Wearden, a cardiothoracic surgeon sauid “almost for four months, the girl’s body was without heart. That is pretty amazing.”

In case of D’Zhana’s heart removal, surgeons’ crafted substitute heart chambers using a fabric and connected these to the two pumping devices. Though, the artificial heart had been approved only for adults not for children.

“In the past, this situation could have been lethal and it nearly was,” Dr Ricci said.

During 118 days between her two cardiac surgeries, for half of the time, D’Zhana wasn’t able to breathe naturally. She also had renal and liver failure and gastrointestinal bleeding.

After slight improvement she required the help of four people, at least one of whom would control the photocopier-sized external part of pumping device.

When D’Zhana was stable enough for operation, doctors performed the second transplant on Oct. 29.

“I truly believe it’s a miracle,” said her mother, Twolla Anderson.

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