Northern Kentuckcy man who had artificial heart gets transplant

LEXINGTON, Ky. - A 21-year-old Northern Kentucky man who had an artificial heart implanted earlier this year in Lexington underwent a transplant to receive a human donor heart, and his doctors say he's doing fine.

For more than five months, Zack Poe lived with a SynCardia heart, carrying around a 13 1/2-pound power case that made it possible for him to leave the hospital while awaiting a transplant.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports Poe is now working to build stamina and plan his future.

For Poe's family, it's nothing short of a miracle that he survived the loss of his own heart, stayed healthy while waiting and, in the past month, received a transplant.

Dr. Charles Hoopes of the University of Kentucky Transplant Center says Poe has "had a very good outcome."