This is how a 25-year-old lived for 555 days without a heart and it is mind-blowing

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live without a real heart? This 25-year-old Ypsilanti, Michigan, resident lived without this vital organ. Also, it is quite interesting to know how he managed that. Stan Larkin was waiting for a human heart transplant and had to wait for 555 days, reports CNN. During that time, he was kept alive using a grey backpack that had a replacement heart. For the outside world, Larkin looked young and healthy like any other adult.

The grey bag had an artificial heart pumping in his chest, which helped him to live a normal life. Larkin enjoyed hanging out with his younger brother, Dominique. His actual heart was removed from his body in November 2014. It was replaced with an artificial one that allowed him to stay home instead of the hospital. He said, "Most people would be scared to go so long with [an artificial heart], but I just want to tell them that you have to go through the fear because it helps you." "I'm going home so fast after the transplant because it helped me stay healthy before the transplant."

He also said that it was just like a real heart. He added, "It's just in a bag with tubes coming out of you, but other than that, it feels like a real heart. It felt just like a backpack with books in it, like if you were going to school." His heart transplant happened in May 2016 and the procedure was carried out at the University of Michigan Frankel Cardiovascular Center, per UNILAD.

Larkin didn't know that his heart was struggling until he collapsed in 2007 while playing basketball. He had a genetic form of heart disease called familial cardiomyopathy. Unfortunately, his 24-year-old brother was also diagnosed with the same disease. It happens when heart muscles stretch and enlarge the open area of at least one heart chamber, restraining it from pumping blood efficiently.

Dr. Jonathan Haft, a cardiac surgeon at the University of Michigan, said that this condition eventually leads to arrhythmias and failure on both sides of the heart. Haft said, "It's an awful condition to have." "But the technology available and the technology that is evolving in the field of heart failure is very exciting...The total artificial heart falls into that category." Both the brothers had heart failure and cardiogenic shock and because of this, they were given artificial heart devices in 2014. 

Dominque had to stay in the hospital for six weeks before being given a heart transplant. On the other hand, Larkin did well with the device and was allowed to be out of the hospital. "I was shocked when the doctors started telling me that I could live without a heart in my body and that a machine was going to be my heart. Just think about it – a machine," Larkin said. Dominique said he is grateful that their needs were met and they both survived. "I have an amazing brother," he shared. "He has been here with me since the beginning and has never let me down. I'm blessed to have him in my life."