This woman has had 'no pulse' for a year - here's how she survives

Sofia Hart is a survivor. While working in an equestrian center, she felt unusually tired. After an examination, the 29-year-old American realized that she had heart disease and that her heart was virtually non-functional. In videos posted on TikTok, she claims she's had 'no pulse' for a year now. So how does she live? We assure you, she doesn't use black magic, nor is she infected by some strange virus. Rather, it's science that keeps her alive.

Irreversible dilated cardiomyopathy

In 2022, Sofia Hart began to fall ill. Her body was tired to an extreme degree. In an interview with People, she testifies:

I started to feel pain and fatigue. It's like a fatigue that you can't really describe. I wasn't tired in my brain, but my body was so tired.

She thought she was suffering from Lyme disease, but after a battery of tests at the hospital, the diagnosis turned out to be irreversible dilated cardiomyopathy. This is a rare heart disease 'producing heart failure, in which ventricular systolic dilatation and dysfunction predominate'.

Her twin sister has the same disease and had to undergo heavy but effective treatment 7 years earlier to continue living.

A machine makes her heart beat

Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD): this is the name of the machine that enables the twins to live despite their illness. Grafted onto the chest, this device replaces part of the heart and mechanically pumps blood. This is a temporary solution, enabling patients to live relatively normally while awaiting a heart transplant.

But, of course, LVAD needs a power source to function. Sofia Hart, who says she 'no longer has a pulse', ironically explains to her subscribers that she 'lives on batteries' Indeed, the equipmentis heavy, and when she leaves her home, she has to make sure she can plug into an electrical outlet quickly. she declares:

This cord is quite long, and I've learned to live in places where I can move around with it

Sofia takes this twist of fate in stride and has even nicknamed her LVAD 'Janis'. After a year of living with her LVAD, she says she's ready for a heart transplant.

This article has been translated fromGentside FR.

Read more:

⋙ Dying starts 2 weeks before your heart stops, expert reveals the telltale signs to look out for

⋙ Man went into surgery after having fever, what doctors found inside his heart will shock you

⋙ Heart attacks are reportedly more common on this day of the week, according to new study