Not exactly the sort of survival we talk about here, but I find it a remarkable medical story. The patient badly needed a heart transplant. For more than 500 days, he was hooked up to a machine that pumped his blood in place of his heart.

24-year-old lives 555 days without a heart

We had a guy here at work who now has a transplant. He ran on a pump for a remarkably long time though I'm not sure how long.
He said it was weird to have a hum instead of a pulse.

And in the Dilbertian side of things - that guy was, and remains, an expert with unique knowledge and has no backup.

I lacked a beating heart for a relatively short time, but it was still a transformative event in my life (naturally!) - just a routine aortic valve replacement surgery, wherein they stopped my ticker, putting the circulatory duties on a heart-lung machine, whilst they opened my chest and sneaked in some new tissue. A nurse assured me this was totally routine but if you ask me it was totally miraculous. Six years later I am still active and vigorous (for a geezer, that is).

And not something that you can easily prep for either. Amazing technology. It's scary for me to think about being so dependent on technology for so long. I'd want battery backups to the battery backups to the battery backups!

Look up TAVAR.

My surgeon offered the option of a less invasive procedure which I believe is distinct from TAVR - entering through the side of the chest and not opening the chest cavity. I told him to undertake the procedure that he felt best at performing. So "Aztec cardio" it was...

i was fortunate. my replacement was due to being born with a two flap aortic valve, instead of the standard three, and I was otherwise in pretty good shape. Looking back, I am grateful that I remained active through my adult life.

My Mother In law has survived without a beating heart since I married her daughter. 23 Years and counting.

Look up TAVAR.

ECMO for adults?