The Woman Who Carries Her Heart In Backpack

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Selwa Hussain, from Ilford, east London, carries her artificial heart in a 6kg backpack all the time

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She had a life-saving operation in 2017, after which she began carrying her heart in a backpack

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The backpack holds batteries, a motor, and a pump that powers chest chambers, circulating blood

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Ms Selwa is the first UK woman to leave the hospital with a complete artificial heart

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Rushed to a hospital, she was too ill for a support pump or heart transplant

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Doctors extracted her failing natural heart and substituted it with an artificial implant and a specialised unit attached to her back

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She keeps an additional unit in another backpack as a backup, in case the primary one malfunctions

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The artificial heart pumps blood at 138 beats per minute, vibrating her chest

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The artificial heart, valued at Rs 88.72 lakh, was manufactured by an American company and implanted into Ms Selwa's body during a six-hour surgical procedure

Image: iStock

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