Texas Mother Bridged to Heart Transplant with Total Artificial Heart Excited to Adopt New Baby One Year Later
“I Feel Better Than I’ve Felt in Years, Maybe Even My Entire Life,” Says Shawn Galloway
On Sept. 20, 2011, 39-year-old Shawn Galloway was given new life when she received a donor heart transplant after 60 days of support with the SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart. This September, Galloway and her family will be blessed with new life for a second time.
“We are in the process of adopting a baby,” said Galloway, who has a 9-year-old daughter. “Our baby girl is due Sept. 21 and we are super excited about the new addition to our family. It is just one more reason that we are so thankful for the Total Artificial Heart!!! I wouldn’t even be here to consider adopting had it not been for the grace of God and SynCardia.”
Galloway was diagnosed with heart failure in 2003, after she began experiencing shortness of breath while three months pregnant with her daughter Hannah. She spent three weeks in the hospital while doctors stabilized her with medication and went on to have a healthy delivery.
A year later, Galloway was hospitalized again with the same symptoms, but was able to live a relatively normal life for the next seven years. However, in February 2011, she came down with a virus she couldn’t shake and ended up back in the hospital.
“My cardiologist told me we had gotten all the miles we could out of my heart and that they were going to start working me up for a transplant,” said Galloway. “It was beyond my ability to grasp. You hear about heart transplants, but you never really think it’s going to happen to you. They got me on the transplant list but I got sicker and sicker as I waited. Every night we prayed for a heart to come and it just never did”… read more
•Watch KHOU video featuring Shawn Galloway
•View Shawn’s patient story told in her own words at www.SynCardia.com