Sink or swim: donations save rising athlete
A decade ago, this young man was fighting for his life in a local hospital. Now he's a star athlete winning medals at an international sporting event
Showing courage in the face of adversity is an expression that's bandied about far too easily these days, but it's something Aaron Zweig knows all too well.
In March 2004 the then seven-year-old Aaron was lying in intensive care on life support in Grantham Hospital. He was breathing through a respirator, a machine by his bed did much of the work of his young heart, and his sheets concealed that he was missing one leg. But he was alive.
That was due only to a remarkable effort by the local community, and a dedicated team of doctors. Two weeks previously, doctors had summoned parents David and Joy Zweig and a close circle of their friends to tell them they did not have the machine they needed to save Aaron's life.
Aaron was suffering from acute viral myocarditis, a severe inflammation of the heart muscle that had left the organ on the verge of failure.
He had been connected to a device designed to take the load off the heart, allowing it to mend itself. But it was clear this machine was not up to the job. In fact, it had probably contributed to the blood clot that cost him his leg.
The only device that could perform the task properly, the doctors said, was a model of a ventricular assist device, made by Berlin Heart in Germany.
