Abiomed has been such a wonderful resource for me, connecting me to so many people all over the world who have experienced heart failure. Today, I get to introduce you to Franzi. She lives in Germany which also happens to be where Thorstein Seiss, the inventor of the Impella lives and is from. Franzi shares her story about how coming down with the common cold led her on a scary years long journey of battling heart failure. She went from a common cold to heart failure and needing an Impella, to her husband performing CPR on her, then getting a defibrillator and later receiving a heart transplant. One of Abiomed’s headquarters is actually in Germany but I was surprised to hear that organ donation rates are very low there. Franzi is a hero. She is boldly sharing her story to help bring more awareness to the need for organ donation in her home country. Franzi was very nervous to record this podcast because she was worried her English would not be good enough but I assure you she speaks much better English than I do German and I was incredibly impressed by her fluency.

You can find me on instagram @hillarysheart and you can find Franzi there as well @franzis_herzkraftwerk

To become an organ donor in Germany please follow this link: https://organspende-register.de/erklaerendenportal/

To become an organ donor in the U.S. please follow this link: https://www.organdonor.gov/sign-up

To learn more about the Impella device go to abiomed.com