21 Year Old Mercer University Student Survives Heart Surgery

21 year old Chandler Reid thought he had the flu when he went to the hospital in late February. That’s when his heart failed and doctors at Coliseum Medical Center came to his rescue.

“The next thing I know, I wake up at Emory and my dad·is telling·me that I went to Coliseum and they put this machine in me.”

The machine is called a ventricular assist device (VAD). It works in place of the human heart allowing the muscle to rest and recover.

“When you·start doing emergent resuscitation like that on a very sick patient, you want to give them every possible opportunity,” says cardiologist, Dr. Maria Bartlett of Colesium Medical Center.

The VAD saved Reid’s life. It made his heart, and soul even stronger.

“I feel like it was supposed to happen, because when I was in the hospital that first week, I was just like, I’m going to be out of here by next week, and it didn’t happen like that, but 5 weeks later I was out of the hospital.”

A few days later he met the team of doctors and nurses responsible for keeing his heart pumping.