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Mikayla's journey began before she entered
this world on May 14, 2003. She was born with a heart defect, and needed a pacemaker. Her first pacemaker lasted
for 4 years. In October 2007, she again went in for major surgery to have a hole in her heart repaired and also for
a new pacemaker. She did fine for 3 months, then, February 1, 2008 she entered Shands Hospital in Gainesville,
FL to wait for a new heart. In the meantime, Mikayla had an artificial heart, "The Berlin Heart". A
matching heart was available September 4, 2008. She has a heart transplant.
What is the Berlin Heart?
The Berlin heart was
positioned outside Mikayla's body and was connected to the heart by many tubes. It pumped blood
to her vital organs and bought her the time she needed while she waited for a heart transplant. Because it does the work
for the heart, her body did not have to work so hard to keep the heart beating. This helped her to maintain
some physical activity and be in the best shape possible when it was time for transplant surgery. (see photo gallery)
For more information:
The Berlin Heart
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