Two years ago, Jackie Murphy, a 54-year-old prescription-benefits manager from Carefree, couldn’t even take a shower without losing her breath. She often felt exhausted.
But a diagnosis of breast cancer led to a routine heart examination before she could have surgery. It was then that she was also diagnosed with congenital heart failure.
Since then, the cancer in her left breast was put in remission by a combination of radiation and two surgeries. And her heart is better, too, thanks to a special dual-purpose implant from HonorHealth Research Institute that helped give her enough confidence to travel this summer to Europe.
Before either of her diagnoses, Murphy thought her health problems stemmed from being slightly overweight.
“I just assumed that I needed to lose weight. I wasn’t aware that there was really a problem,” she said. “Any type of physical exercise, and I would be out of breath. Just basic things that you take for granted, I would be just kind of panting when I was done.”
Murphy’s health problems were not easy to decipher. First, she has a rare genetic condition — dextrocardia situs inversus — in which all of her internal organs are on the opposite side they’re supposed to be on. So, when her appendix needed to be removed, surgeons found it on her left side, instead of her right.
She also suffered from low blood pressure and low blood flow. After her heart problem was diagnosed, she was given one, and then another, medication. Each work for a while, but among their side effects they also tended to lower her blood pressure even more than usual.
Candidate for dual-purpose device
Eventually, Murphy was referred to the HonorHealth Research Institute, where she was deemed a fit for a clinical trial of a device known as the Integra-D, made by Impulse Dynamics, a Marlton, N.J.-based global medical device company specializing in heart failure.
This implanted device has two functions: one is a proprietary therapy that stimulates the heart’s ventricles for an hour, three times a day, building up the heart’s strength; and the other is a built-in defibrillator designed to shock the heart back into rhythm should it ever stop beating properly. Murphy received the implant in November.
“I feel significantly better. I can shower. I walk at least 30 minutes a day. I’m very happy that I did the implant,” said Murphy, who also was very pleased with the care she received at the Research Institute. “You have a great staff. They were amazing. Very responsive.”