Home is where the heart is

Tom Christerson returned home to a hero's welcome April 16 as hundreds of well-wishers lined the streets of Central City, Ky., to greet the world's second recipient of the AbioCor artificial heart.

UofL surgeons Laman Gray Jr., M.D., and Robert Dowling, M.D., implanted the totally self-contained heart in Christerson 215 days earlier during a marathon surgery at Louisville's Jewish Hospital.

To date Christerson, 71, is the only AbioCor recipient to have returned home. In preparation for the event, the retired businessman spent four weeks in a downtown Louisville hotel, just a few blocks from Jewish Hospital.

Seven AbioCor implants have been performed on critically ill patients nationwide since July 2, 2001, when Gray and Dowling completed the first of the groundbreaking procedures in Louisville.

That first recipient, Robert Tools of Franklin, Ky, lived for 151 days before dying of complications following an episode of severe abdominal bleeding. Four other AbioCor recipients also have died.

Christerson, who prior to the implant could only walk short distances because of chronic heart and lung disease, told reporters he was enjoying his newfound mobility. Besides walking around his house and visiting with friends, Christerson said he was anxious to take his houseboat out for a cruise on nearby Lake Barkley.

"It's awful good to be home," Christerson said.