A left ventricular assist device allows blood to bypass the weak part of the heart. It can be temporary or permanent depending on the patient. “You may have six months to live.” The words hit Rick Kurth like a ton of bricks. Since 2004, the attorney from Danville, Illinois, had been managing a virus in the left ventricle of his heart. On March 23, 2022, Rick was at an Indianapolis, Indiana, hospital, and he thought he was going home after some tests. Instead, doctors told the then-72 year-old that his heart was not pumping blood the way it needed to. In other words, it was failing. Even worse, Rick says the providers told him he was not a candidate for a new heart. So, after some initial skepticism and talks with his wife Dianne, Rick accepted a new partner in his life - one with wires and batteries that would be with him every second of every day: a left ventricular assist device (LVAD). “A lot times I forget I even have it on,” Rick chuckles, reflecting
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