Heart patient must plug himself into the mains every night to stay alive
THIS 22-year-old man is the youngest person in Britain to be fitted with a mechanical heart pump to keep him alive.
Jim Lynskey was left with an enlarged heart after he and his twin Grace caught viral meningitis when two-weeks-old.
The device keeps the weak left side of his heart pumping to keep him alive. Every evening he plugs himself into the mains via a wire from a hole in his stomach.
He has to carry two large battery packs, each with an eighthour life, a small computer device and other spare equipment with him at all times. An alarm will sound if the kit fails and emergency services need to be called.
Jim, of Redditch, Worcestershire, said: “I have to plug myself into the mains electric at night while another machine charges the batteries. Having a shower can be tricky, as I have to seal the batteries in a watertight bag.
“I tend to avoid staying anywhere overnight as it means taking all the equipment with me.”
When Jim was eight he went into “ventricular tachycardia” – having a fast heart rate – and had to be resuscitated from two cardiac arrests.
He said: “I’d never experienced anything like that before.
“I was so young. I knew something bad was happening.”
He had an operation to get rid of scar tissue caused by the enlarged heart and was fitted with an “implantable cardioverter defibrillator”.
But when he was 17 he had to be resuscitated again. Two new devices have been fitted since, though as a result it could now become more difficult to perform a heart transplant in the future.
He said: “I’m just so grateful to be alive, whether that is with the pump or a heart transplant.
“The idea of a transplant is scary. If it doesn’t work, there’s nowhere to go from there. That thought is always on my mind.”
However, Jim is now backing the Save9lives organ donation campaign by talking in schools to encourage people to sign up to the UK organ donation register.