Two LVAD Brothers: Two Brothers with Muscular Dystrophy Live with Heart Pumps That Help Keep Them Alive

Newswise Tyler Wertz, 18, and his 16-year old brother Austin Tucker, fight, tease, love and support each other like most brothers do. Unlike most brothers, however, they share the same uncertain futureboth have heart assist devices keeping them alive while they struggle with a debilitating disease.

As young boys, Tyler and Austin were diagnosed with Beckers Muscular Dystrophy, a disease that slowly weakens the arms and legs and damages the heart.

Sometimes Ill be walking and Ill fall down for no reason, Tyler said. It can be scary and embarrassing, but its just something I have to deal with.

In 2010, Tylers heart condition became so grave that doctors at the Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center implanted a left ventricular assist device (LVAD), a battery-run device that assists the pumping of the heart, in an attempt to improve his quality of life. Austin received one in 2012.

While most teenagers carry a backpack with books and other items, Tyler and Austin carry a small computer-controlled device powered by two batteries that always have to be charged.

Sometimes Ill be in public and people will stare and ask me about it, Tyler said. Its overwhelming at times, but I know that it gave me a second chance at life and for that I am grateful.

Tyler and Austin are the first people in the world with this condition who have received this type of treatment to stop the progression of heart disease and improve the quality of their lives, said Dr. Jerry Estep, a cardiologist with the Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center. We are using this as a bridge to transplant in the hopes that somewhere down the road they will be able to receive a heart transplant. It all depends on how the underlying disease progresses.

Beckers Muscular Dystrophy is a genetic and milder form of muscular dystrophy that affects mainly males. The boys mother, Jennifer Banks, has had to deal with the heartache of this disease most of her life.

Two of my brothers had it, Banks said. One of them died a decade after receiving a heart transplant and the other never lived long enough to receive a new organ. Its heartbreaking to watch my boys go through the same thing.

Before they received the heart pump, the boys did not have the energy to do any kind of physical activity and it was making their muscular dystrophy worse, said Dr. Matthias Loebe, chief of division of thoracic transplant and assist device at the Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center and director of thoracic transplantation at the Methodist JC Walter J.R. Transplant Center. The pump gives them the ability to perform every day activities and move around because they are no longer in heart failure.

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Two LVAD Brothers: Two Brothers with Muscular Dystrophy Live with Heart Pumps That Help Keep Them Alive