Fifty years ago, acclaimed surgeon Christiaan Barnard agitated out the world's aboriginal affection transplant, a address that today has become routine.
Up to 300 bodies are currently on the UK's displace account and abounding are adapted with automated pumps as a "bridge" to accepting a new heart.
Called larboard ventricular abetment accessories (LVADs), they admonition broadcast claret about the body.
But abounding absorb years relying on the battery-powered pump while their delay for a displace continues. So what is activity like for these people?
Jim Lynskey, a 22-year-old university student, was adapted with an LVAD in 2015, age-old aloof 19. He is believed to be the youngest actuality in the country to accept one.
A anniversary afterwards his birth, Jim and his accompanying sister Grace apprenticed meningitis. She fought off the virus, but her brother was larboard with a abominably damaged heart.
Mr Lynskey, like best LVAD patients, is on the non-urgent displace list.
"I've never been offered a heart," he said.
"It's article actual aberrant because that there are not too abounding added 'competitors' on the displace account who are my acme and weight at such a adolescent age."
The Sheffield Hallam undergraduate lives an absolute affairs abroad from home at university.
Wires appear from his anatomy to a ability pack, which he allegation accumulate with him at all times.
Conscious of how it looks, the apprentice keeps the batteries in his pockets and the computer absorbed to his belt, so it is all out of sight.
He dreams of abutting in with activities like pond and appliance with his accompany after worrying.
Source: British Affection Foundation
At night, the machine's whirring generally keeps him awake.
When he does sleep, Mr Lynskey's batteries allegation in a advancing station. This gives him eight to 10 hours' ability the afterward day.
"Showering is actual difficult because I can't get the anguish too wet," he said.
"It's catchy to accumulate up with the uni lifestyle. Maybe a alcohol gets spilt on you in a club and you accept to birr home. Any array of beating or aqueous spilling on it is terrifying.
"It's difficult to animate with article so abnormal, abnormally amidst by such a young, best-years-of-your-life environment."
Weighing abandoned seven bean (44kg) back adapted with the accessory three years ago, Mr Lynskey, from Warwickshire, has now acquired weight.
"I feel so abundant bigger than I did afore I had the pump. My anatomy functions accept become added routine.
"But the difficulties are appealing cutting at times."
In October, Mr Lynskey's affection pump bootless and he had to accept a newer LVAD adapted in hospital. He spent his 22nd altogether in a coma.
"[Grace and I] are absolutely close. She was appealing devastated. We've been for a [birthday] meal since."
Miss Lynskey, who afresh accelerating from Birmingham City University, was in her aboriginal year back her accompanying brother got his affection pump.
"It's difficult for her. I would altercate it's been harder for her than me," her brother said.
The apprentice describes himself as a absolute actuality and has set up a attack alleged Save9Lives to accession acquaintance about agency donation.
While he is beholden for the pump, which has helped accumulate him alive, he said a displace would annihilate "so abundant abhorrence and so abounding limitations" and hopes to one day about-face his attack into a registered charity.
Mr Lynskey, originally from Redditch, Worcestershire, is not alone.
Others accept angry to the internet to allotment their belief and animate added acquaintance of agency donation.
More than 6,500 bodies are associates of online community, My LVAD.
Recipients, ancestors and medics allotment their belief and action beforehand and advice.
Discussions ambit from ambidextrous with the accent and banking anguish of ill bloom to what affectionate of shirts are easiest to abrasion with an LVAD and wire.
One almsman tells the online association his pump is "truly life-saving technology but has its limits".
Current pumps accept their drawbacks. As able-bodied as the restrictions of bulging affairs and accustomed batteries, patients can ache complications including infections and bleeding.
And for some people, including those accounted too ill for a affection transplant, LVADs are abiding - a alleged destination therapy.
Peter Houghton was one such person.
Before his afterlife in 2007, he entered the Guinness Apple Records as the longest actual bogus affection displace patient.
The psychologist, from Birmingham, was adapted with a Jarvik affection pump in June 2000.
He was alive a busy, caring activity counselling terminally-ill people, back his affection began to fail.
By the time he absolved into the appointment of affection surgeon Stephen Westaby some years later, he was breathless, ridden with sores and gout and acquainted it "was too aching to live".
Prof Westaby offered Mr Houghton, who he said was accounted too ill for a displace and had abandoned weeks to live, the abolitionist affection pump treatment.
He recounts in his affection anaplasty account Fragile Lives that admitting the risks, Mr Houghton bedeviled the adventitious as his "lottery win".
After the operation, Mr Houghton had to backpack a bag absolute the pump's agent and batteries. An alien wire from a metal bung in his skull agitated ability to the affection device.
He went on to become an agent for LVADs, completed a 91-mile alms aqueduct airing and abounding conferences about the world.
John Lloyd, his neighbour in Edgbaston, declared his acquaintance as "inspirational" and chaperoned him on a four-week US bout to affection centres and pump-makers, area the analyst was "treated like a bit of a celebrity".
"He capital to acquaint bodies that there was an another to transplant," he said. "And to appearance bodies how able-bodied he was and that he could animate a abounding and alive activity with a automated accessory built-in into his body."
Mr Houghton, who fostered added than 10 accouchement with his wife Diane, alleged the seven added years the pump gave him his "extra life" and he aloft banknote and acquaintance for research, acceptable administrator of the Bogus Affection Fund charity.
But his capital ambition had been for the pumps to become a "destination therapy" - an another to transplant, Mr Lloyd added.
Prof Westaby said Mr Houghton became a "great friend" and encouraged him to beforehand a added affordable pump for use in Britain.
The retired surgeon is now allotment of a aggregation in Swansea creating the Calon Cardio MiniVAD, the aboriginal British pump. The aggregation hopes to accession £40m to activate analytic trials abutting year.
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The assistant believes Mr Houghton's bequest demonstrates "the astronomic potential" of automated pumps to admonition bags of patients who accept astringent affection failure, disqualified for transplant.
The United States and added countries accept adopted miniaturised rotary claret pumps as an another to displace for some patients with avant-garde affection failure, he said.
Dr Yoshifumi Naka, a cardiac surgeon at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, said LVADs were bringing about a "paradigm shift" in the analysis of end date affection failure.
In the accomplished two years the US hospital has angled the cardinal of accessories it built-in while "all over the country, as able-bodied as all over the world, the article of LVADs is growing rapidly," he said.
The adaptation of patients on ventricular abetment accessories has been gradually convalescent back their birth added than 50 years ago.
It is now archetypal for patients to animate for several years with a acceptable affection of life. Subsequently, there is a admiration to extend the analysis to a added accumulation of patients who are displace disqualified (typically due to college age, or the attendance of added medical problems).
Survival for these Destination Analysis (DT) patients is beneath than a arch to displace and aggravation ante are additionally higher.
There is ambiguity amid commissioners over whether DT represents a value-for-money action aural the amount constraints of our NHS.
Inevitably however, technology will abide to beforehand and my assessment is that these accessories will assuredly become a 18-carat another to displace in the future.
For Jim Lynskey, a crude affection would accord him a "better affection of life". But he will not be on the annals for at atomic the abutting six months.
The anaplasty to fit the latest LVAD agency his anatomy allegation be accustomed time to balance properly.
"In truth, I would be captivated to break abroad from the surgical table for 10 years with this pump and again conceivably accede transplant," he said.
"If the alarm did appear for a affection displace one day afore then, I would be absurd to about-face bottomward the opportunity."
