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SECOND CHANCE AT LIFE: HEART PATIENT TO SAY I DO

Last month, Woodrow Tommy Tomlin never would have thought he'd be alive, let alone be getting married after doctors at the University of Virginia Medical Center told him he needed a new heart. After several episodes of chest pain earlier this summer, Tomlin was told by his doctors that he needed a vesticular assist device (VAD) implanted in his chest to help him live until a heart became available for transplant. He underwent the surgery in early July.

I really didn't have a choice. It was touch and go for awhile, Tomlin said.

Because of the devotion of Tomlin's girlfriend, Barbara Thurston, during this trying time, the couple decided to tie the knot this Saturday in the yard of Tomlin's home in Buck Island, just west of Charlottesville. Thurston, his girlfriend of six years, quit her job as the office manager for the Instruction Department for the Albemarle County School System to take care of Tomlin around the clock after his surgery. For three weeks while Tomlin was in the hospital, Thurston learned everything she could about the VAD from Carol Ballew, a nurse and cardiac transplantation coordinator, so she would know what to do if the alarm sounded on the control box. According to Tomlin, there are about 10 different things that could happen and Barbara learned how to fix them all. I thought if she was willing to do this for me, than we should get married. She has really taken care of me.

The VAD is used as a bridge to sustain cardiac patients while they wait for a heart transplant and will allow some patients to return home after implantation and resume a relatively normal life. The device is attached directly to the bottom of the heart's left ventricle. Blood from the ventricle drains into a fist-sized motorized unit that pumps blood out through a tube attached to the ascending aorta. A small cable, that houses a power and data lines and an air supply tube, exits the body to the right of the abdomen. Rechargeable batteries that operate the device are worn in holsters around the patient's waist. At night, patients can plug the VAD into their home's AC power to recharge the batteries.

August 10, 2001