"The mechanical heart has helped me to survive the time I had to wait for a donor heart“, says Chantal (30), who now works in real estate in Bremen and is simultaneously pursuing a doctorate at the University of Bayreuth.
At the age of 12 she was supported by an EXCOR® Pediatric. “This mechanical heart has played a major role in my life and I have many memories of that time. I am very grateful that this technology exists and that the therapy was so successful".
Already as a child, Chantal was very athletic, and played a lot of tennis and hockey. But at the age of 11, she suddenly was becoming no air just climbing the stairs. The cardiologist sent her straight to the hospital in Bremen. Her left ventricle was found to be inflamed and she was put into an artificial coma. The situation was very dramatic, and the doctors did not believe that she would survive the next night, and told this also her parents. Chantal survived, but she did not feel well. "I often suffered a lot of pain so that I had to spend days in bed motionless and almost completely devoid of energy" she recalls. After six months of treatment in Bremen, she became progressively worse and was transferred to the German Heart Center in Berlin (DHZB). “On the very first evening I suffered ventricular fibrillation after which a mechanical heart was implanted in an emergency surgery" says Chantal.
"Apart from the regular visits of a technician, who checked the mechanical heart, at first all I noticed was the clicking sound of the device. After transfer to the normal ward, I began to get more mobile. After three and a half months of waiting, I finally received a heart transplant. As I slowly regained my consciousness, it was strange for me to live without my mechanical heart. I almost felt empty without my device and that steady clicking. At night, no alarm woke me because I accidentally bent the hose while sleeping. I really had to get used to it.”
After her release, Chantal was educated at home for half a year because of her increased risk of infection, before she could then return to her normal school. Today she is an athletic young woman who, time permitting, enthusiastically plays golf and tennis or goes skiing. In addition, she also likes to play golf and not only skies enthusiastically in winter, but also works as a ski instructor. “I've been taking part in transplant patient competitions for six years" says the 26 years old. “My greatest achievements were the World Championship title in Golf 2013 in South Africa and 2015 in Argentina, as well as the gold medal in Parallel Slalom at the Winter World Championship 2015 in France.” Most recently, she participated in the World Transplant Games in Perth, Australia and is already looking forward to the World Championships in Dresden 2025.
Her involvement in organ donation support has also been important, for which she has already appeared in the TV shows "Markus Lanz" (ZDF), "3 to 9" (NDR) and "Good morning Germany" (RTL). “I want to show people that this can happen to anyone and that your life might suddenly depend on a donor organ, just as happened with me. An organ donor can save up to seven lives! I want to use my fate to help save the lives of as many people as possible through donor organ support."
On our Youtube channel, you will find an exclusive video interview in which Chantal talks about her remarkable experience after heart transplantation with the help of the EXCOR® Pediatric: Powered by the gift of life - The Story of Chantal Bausch
Trademarks, images and texts are used with permission by Berlin Heart GmbH.
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Implanted at the age of seven weeks. “Our daughter Juniper was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy when she was only two weeks old. She declined fast, and required a Berlin Heart when she was just seven weeks old. We were terrified! Juniper will be six months soon, and we're still waiting for her new heart, but thanks to Berlin Heart she's acting like a normal baby and thriving. We are beyond grateful for Juniper’s gifted physicians and for this life-saving device that have given us a chance to enjoy our daughter.” (Joni S., Juniper’s mother).
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"The EXCOR® is simply with us. And we are glad that something like this exists. It saved my life." – Mathias K.
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Daniel
October 2018 - Daniel is ten months old when the diagnosis of dilated cardiomyopathy throws his and his parents’ world off the rails. The cardiac muscle of his left ventricle is pathologically dilated, which means his heart is no longer able to pump enough blood through his small body.
