Michael Drummond; Received 3 Hearts
Michael Drummond, who received two artificial hearts and a third from a human, has died of multiple organ failure at age 30, nearly five years after he became the youngest person ever to receive the Jarvik-7 artificial device.
Drummond died Saturday night of complications that included a blood infection, kidney failure and lung problems brought on by a combination of a diseased gallbladder and obesity, said Dr. Jack G. Copeland of the University of Arizona’s Medical Center.
In 1987, when his first artificial heart, a $15,000 plastic-and-metal cream-colored pump, was presented to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, Drummond said: “I guess I am sort of a part of history, but not by choice. It’s possible 100 years from now that the artificial heart will be as routine as a blood transfusion.”
Drummond and Copeland set medical history five years ago when Drummond became the youngest of six Jarvik-7 artificial heart recipients and the first to undergo an implant pending the availability of a heart from a human donor.
On Aug. 29, 1985, he was given his Jarvik-7 after a viral syndrome had caused congestive heart failure and Copeland determined he had only 48 hours to live.
After 9 1/2 days on the Jarvik heart, Drummond received the donor heart of a 19-year-old Texas man who died in a motorcycle crash.
Drummond recovered fully, despite a minor stroke while on the Jarvik, and led a normal life for 4 1/2 years, resuming work at a Phoenix-area grocery.
But Drummond’s condition had been deteriorating since Feb. 3 when he underwent emergency surgery to remove a gangrenous gallbladder. That ailment led to a blood infection, a blood clot in the lungs and a weakened heart that was replaced by a second artificial heart, which his body rejected.
Copeland replaced Drummond’s transplanted heart with a Symbion J-7-70 artificial heart on May 21. Within two days of the second implant other complications developed, including fluid retention in the lungs and kidney impairment.
Drummond, 6-foot-2, weighing 268 pounds with an engaging smile that offset a quiet, stoic demeanor, “certainly had the fight,” said Lisa Slayton, a member of the university’s cardio-thoracic intensive care unit’s nursing team.
She said the team had a good cry after his death. “We all took care of Mike like he was our brother. He was like family.”
Drummond’s father, Clarence, said: “We’re just grateful that the artificial heart was here for Mike the first time. He wouldn’t have had the 4 1/2 years if he hadn’t had (it).
“And even this time, there were still things that Mike wanted to do, and with the artificial heart he had a shot at it, anyway. It didn’t work out, but he had a shot at it.”
