Breakthrough heart surgery patient recuperating

Gerrits is the first man in Africa to receive the Heartmate

A 31-year-old man who underwent breakthrough heart surgery in Tshwane a week ago is making excellent progress. The father of two young children received a device designed to assist the pumping function of his heart in a four-hour operation.

Nokkie Gerrits is the first man in Africa to receive the Heartmate. The left ventrical assist device is an electrical machine that performs the pumping function of the heart while the patient receives treatment. If the heart recovers enough to start pumping again, the device can be removed.

"Your heart has to pump on average 100 000 beats every day. A sick heart never gets the opportunity to rest so that our medicine can repair it. This pump gives the heart an opportunity to... rest. So there are two critical phases in this procedure. The first one is that he survives the operation. But the next phase is that while the heart is resting, we continue with therapy to repair the native heart," said James Kerr, a heart specialist.

New lease on life
Gerrits has a new lease on life. "I feel good, and I think I can do something with my family now as well, play with my kids - that's what I'm looking forward to," said Gerrits.

Worldwide there have been 15 cases where the heart recovered sufficiently after the necessary medication was taken for a year, making a transplant unnecessary.