Toronto pre-teen the youngest person in Canada to receive total artificial heart
Global News
Multiple heart surgeries and near-death experiences have earned 12-year-old Mariam Tannous the nickname Mariam Miracle, says her mom.
TORONTO — Multiple heart surgeries and near-death experiences have earned 12-year-old Mariam Tannous the nickname Mariam Miracle, says her mom.
And for good reason: About one year ago the now-thriving pre-teen became the youngest person in Canada, and among the smallest in the world, to receive a device known as a total artificial heart.
Her doctors at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children on Monday detailed their last-ditch measure to save her life when a previous transplant began to fail. It’s all the more remarkable because such devices are only made for adults _ the machine barely fit in Mariam’s chest and after implantation her surgeon Dr. Osami Honjo says he left the cavity open for days because it “was just too big to close it right away.”
Mariam’s mother Linda Antouan Adwar recalls many tearful days praying for her daughter’s recovery, and the elation she felt when she learned Mariam would be OK.
“She’s a miracle. She’s a strong girl. She loves life. She needs to be alive,” says Antouan Adwar, describing a lively, active Grade 7 student who loves to swim, collect L.O.L. dolls and draw.
Mariam was born with two forms of congenital heart disease — Ebstein’s anomaly caused a leaky valve and cardiomyopathy caused an ill-formed right ventricle.
She had open-heart surgery at the age of three and a heart transplant at age seven, but a steady decline at age 11 culminated in cardiac arrest in June 2021.
Antouan Adwar recalls the terrifying day Mariam suddenly collapsed at home. Her older brother administered CPR while they waited for an ambulance to SickKids. She was resuscitated and stabilized in intensive care but doctors recognized that her heart was giving out.
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