Press Release:

Margaret Daugherty walks around Richmond with her husband Brian Younglove using the Freedom® portable driver to power her Total Artificial Heart. She is participating in the FDA-approved IDE clinical study of the Freedom portable driver.

TUCSON, Ariz. – June 2, 2011 – In 1992, Army veteran Margaret Daugherty, then 22, was blessed with a donor heart. Following the transplant, she was able to return to a normal, healthy life for 18½ years. However, in December 2010, Margaret was admitted to the local VA hospital in Lexington, Ky, her donor heart barely functioning. She had received a pacemaker that August, but her condition had continued to deteriorate.

Her doctors had hoped she could undergo a second heart transplant, so she was transferred to a transplant center in Nashville, Tenn., but her liver, kidneys and lungs were failing. With tears in his eyes, Margaret's cardiologist told her husband, Brian Younglove, that there was nothing more they could do. He recommended they return home and make Margaret comfortable in hospice care.

Not ready to give up, the couple had heard of Total Artificial Hearts being implanted at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Medical Center in Richmond for patients who were gravely ill and needed a transplant. "I said 'Send her to Richmond and give her a chance,' " said Younglove. "My thought was, put her on the table, and if she dies on the table, she dies fighting."  

Total Artificial Heart patient Margaret Daugherty practices Tai Chi wearing her Freedom® portable driver in the Backpack in a nearby park. She is currently living at the Hospitality House near VCU Medical Center while she waits for a matching donor heart.

Margaret's doctors contacted Dr. Gundars Katlaps, Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Richmond VA for placing a heart pump. He then referred her to VCU due to severe biventricular failure (failure affecting both sides of the heart). She arrived in Richmond on Dec. 17, 2010. "She was in profound heart failure," said Dr. Vigneshwar Kasirajan, Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at VCU. "She could barely speak. We were very concerned about what was going to happen to her kidneys."

Margaret, who had been on dialysis, had swollen to 220 pounds from her normal 140 pounds due to the excessive fluid building up in her body. Three days after her arrival in Richmond, she was implanted with the SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart.

By March, Margaret's condition had stabilized and she became the first female Total Artificial Heart patient at VCU to be discharged from the hospital using the Freedom® portable driver. She is participating in an FDA-approved Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) clinical study of the Freedom driver, the 1st U.S. portable driver designed to power SynCardia's Total Artificial Heart both inside and outside the hospital.

Margaret is currently waiting for her matching donor heart at the Hospitality House near VCU. Wearing the Freedom driver in the Backpack, she enjoys doing Tai Chi in a nearby park.

"Why stay in the hospital waiting?" she says. "The world is out there waiting to be experienced."

Read Margaret's story in Richmond Magazine:
Life Savers: Mechanical Heart Devices are Giving Patients a Chance to Thrive

Watch a slide show/interview with Margaret:
Living with an Artificial Heart

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About the SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart
SynCardia Systems, Inc. (Tucson, AZ) is the privately-held manufacturer of the world's first and only FDA, Health Canada and CE approved Total Artificial Heart. Originally used as a permanent replacement heart, SynCardia's Total Artificial Heart is currently approved as a bridge to transplant for people dying from end-stage biventricular heart failure. There have been more than 1,000 implants of the Total Artificial Heart, accounting for more than 250 patient years of life.

Similar to a heart transplant, SynCardia's Total Artificial Heart replaces both failing heart ventricles and the four heart valves, eliminating the symptoms and source of end-stage biventricular failure. Unlike a donor heart, the Total Artificial Heart is immediately available at SynCardia Certified Centers and does not require expensive anti-rejection medication, which can cause subsequent complications. It is the only device that provides immediate, safe blood flow of up to 9.5 liters per minute through both ventricles. This high volume of safe blood flow helps speed the recovery of vital organs, helping make the patient a better transplant candidate.

SynCardia Ranked #20 Among World's 50 Most Innovative Companies
In March 2011, Fast Company magazine ranked SynCardia #20 in its annual list of the "World's 50 Most Innovative Companies" for "giving mobility to artificial heart recipients." Weighing 13.5 pounds, SynCardia's Freedom® portable driver is the world's first wearable driver designed to power the Total Artificial Heart both inside and outside the hospital. The Freedom driver is CE approved for use in Europe and undergoing an FDA-approved Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) clinical study in the U.S.

For additional information, please visit: http://www.syncardia.com
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Media Contact:
Don Isaacs
Vice President of Communications
SynCardia Systems, Inc.
Cell: (520) 955-0660