Heart pump 'mends' Airdrie woman's heart (Scotland)

A 27-year-old woman whose heart stopped beating on the operating table has been saved by a Nasa-inspired heart pump. Mother-of-three Heather McIntyre, from Airdrie, suffered heart failure last July, five months after giving birth. A surgeon at Scotland's Golden Jubilee National Hospital kept her alive by massaging her heart and inserting a Ventricular Assist Device (VAD). It uses tiny motors designed by NASA scientists to pump blood around the body, taking over the heart's function. While Ms McIntyre was on the operating table, her family were told she had died "a couple of times" because her heart had stopped beating. However, cardiothoracic surgeon Saleem Haj-Yahia refused to give up on her...