He lived with a mechanical heart pump for more than 9 years

In September, about eight months after he received a transplanted heart, Mr Rajamohan Pekrisamy took his first sip of warm soya milk.

- Joyce Teo Senior Health Correspondent

It was a familiar comfort he had been deprived of for more than nine years, the majority of which he lived with a mechanical heart pump, called a left ventricular assist device (LVAD), in his chest to help his failing heart.

“I couldn't eat foods high in vitamin K and (that included) all the soya stuff, which I love,” said the 54-year-old former security officer, who had been on the transplant waitlist since April 2016. Vitamin K can counteract the blood thinners that LVAD patients typically take.

That first cup of soya milk came from a carton purchased from a supermarket, and was served warm, the way he likes it. “Everything is good — my sleep, my food, my hobbies,” said Mr Rajamohan, who lives with his mother.

He is now enjoying his newfound freedom, sleeping on whichever side he likes and walking unencumbered by the LVAD driveline — the cable connecting the pump to an external controller and battery pack, which he had to carry everywhere.

Most of all, he can now look for work, free of the stigma and fear attached to that device and bag that he had to wear.

Mr Rajamohan’s ordeal started with a severe flu infection that landed him in hospital some 15 years ago. He had developed viral cardiomyopathy, or heart muscle damage, caused by a viral infection. He was treated with heart failure medications, but his condition worsened.

Associate Professor David Sim Kheng Leng, the head of cardiology at the National Heart Centre Singapore (NHCS), said that Mr Rajamohan was among the minority of patients whose heart failures continue to progress.

It got to the point where he had to sleep while sitting up because he could not breathe otherwise. It is a classic symptom of heart failure, said Prof Sim.

“Some patients describe having this drowning sensation when they are lying down,” he said.