A school teacher from Lousiana is walking proof of the medical miracles happening in North Texas.
A quick glance at 51-year-old Diana Bowen as she's pushed in a wheelchair through the halls of Baylor University Medical Center, and it's easy to miss the medical marvel keeping her alive.
In her chest is a mechanical heart that is pumping blood through her body and its battery power source is contained in this single gray pack, which she carries at her side.
"There are two tubes that come out right here they're connected to a machine. That is actually an air compressor basically. Now, I don't know how it works, but it's very loud!" said Bowen
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She was in heart failure when she arrived at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas.
"She came to us, really, on death's doorstep," said transplant cardiologist Dr. Timothy Gong.
Dr. Gong sais a total artificial heart was her only option at being able to survive what could be a years-long wait for a donor's heart.
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Her artificial heart operation was only the fifth in the hospital's history.
Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas was the first hospital in North Texas to use an artificial heart as a bridge to transplant, creating opportunities for patients who might otherwise have not received a transplant.
"You're talking about a major surgery that involves opening the chest, removing both the ventricles of the heart, and then sewing in, essentially, this mechanical heart," said Dr. Gong.
Bowen said she was unsure of the procedure but knew she didn't have a choice.
"Really didn't know what was gonna happen. I just trusted in God," said Bowen.
Bowen had the artificial heart for two months.
She was not able to go back to teaching because she was placed on the transplant list and was very high on the list and needed to be close to the hospital.
She received the news that a donor heart had been secured and had a successful heart transplant.
She said when she woke up, the first thing she noticed was the absence of the loud noises that came from the artificial heart battery pack.
"I knew they'd cut my heart out and now I had a heart, so that was a great feeling," she said.
"To see someone go from death's doorstep to fully recovered and getting back into the mix of things and getting back to their normal routine, that brings really a lot of satisfaction to me," said Dr. Gong.
Established nearly 40 years ago, the Center for Advanced Heart and Lung Disease at Baylor University Medical Center is part of the Baylor Annette C. and Harold C. Simmons Transplant Institute, one of the largest multi-specialty transplant centers in the country.
