MATT LAUER, co-host:
This time last year, 22-year-old
Texan Ally Smith
was planning her funeral. Today she's planning her wedding, thanks to doctors who implanted a
mechanical device
into her chest to help her failing
heart
. Some call it a bionic
heart
. In a TODAY and
People magazine
exclusive, here's
Ally
's amazing story. In
October 2006
,
Ally Smith
was like any other
college freshman
.
Ms. ALLY SMITH:
Going to school,
social life
, hanging out with friends.
LAUER:
Ally
was an avid athlete and the picture of good health who had just met the man of her dreams.
Ms. A. SMITH:
I met
Mike
freshman year of college. Right off the bat I saw that he was a complete gentleman. He respected people.
LAUER:
But by the spring,
Ally
started feeling tired.
Ms. A. SMITH:
Dizzy all the time. Always wanting to sleep because I just felt worn out.
LAUER:
Friends and family, even
Ally
, chalked it up as typical college stuff until a frightening incident.
Ms. A. SMITH:
I was in a rowing competition and
all of a sudden
I realized that I was waking up with my team around me. They had told me that I just fell backwards and unconscious for, you know, 15, 30 seconds.
LAUER:
Doctors diagnosed dehydration until she had a follow-up appointment with her pediatrician.
Ms. A. SMITH:
He told me the same thing. `Oh, you're just dehydrated. You obviously didn't eat enough,' and I go to check out and pay and I'm waking up again. I passed out in the doctor's office.
Ms. A. SMITH:
Ally
was rushed to the hospital and after intense testing, a devastating diagnosis.
Ms. A. SMITH:
She called it cardiomyopathy. I just thought it would go away. Kind of just like getting a cold, I thought it would just reverse itself.
LAUER:
Unfortunately for
Ally
, that was not the case. Viral cardiomyopathy is a disease that weakens the
heart
leading to organ failure in other parts of the body. Without a
heart transplant
, many do not survive. For the next two years,
Ally
was in and out of the hospital trying to repair her
fragile heart
with medicine.
Dr. ROBERTA BOGAEV:
We anticipated her
life expectancy
was a year without more aggressive therapy. And her chance of living one year was only 50 percent.
LAUER:
But
Ally
had so much to live for. A family who loved her desperately, and
Mike
, who loved her unconditionally.
Ms. A. SMITH:
He asked me to marry him
September 23rd
of
2008
. He got on his knee and, you know, with his big goofy face smile that he has.
LAUER:
A week later,
Ally
took a turn for the worse. Her body was shutting down. She told
Mike he
could have his ring back.
Ms. A. SMITH:
One thing that -- sorry -- he told me was even if I was on my death bed that he was still going to marry me.
LAUER:
Without a donor
heart
,
Ally
had run out of options, except for one, a bionic
heart
called the
HeartMate II
. It's a
mechanical device
which keeps the
heart
pumping by an external power source, giving the
heart
time to rest and hopefully
time to heal
itself. It is a grueling surgery and recovery, one that
Ally
almost didn't survive.
Ms. KRISTA SMITH:
I really sat there and prayed and said, `God, tell me what I'm supposed to do. Am I supposed to sit here and watch her die, or am I supposed to go home and prepare my husband for this?'
LAUER:
But doctors say through her courage, grace and determination,
Ally
has done more than survive, she's thriving.
Ms. A. SMITH:
This is the battery and controller to my
HeartMate II
. It connects through here and it right here goes through my abdomen and goes right through here into this part that goes to my pump. So it's all connected.
Offscreen Voice:
What's it sound like?
Ms. A. SMITH:
Just a hum.
Unidentified Man:
Like a hum.
Ms. A. SMITH:
It just goes mmm.
LAUER:
So now
Ally
has time for more important things, like planning a wedding.
Dr. BOGAEV:
We have -- we have a whole reserved row right behind her family.
Ms. A. SMITH:
Doctors and my nurses.
Dr. BOGAEV:
I mean, just thinking about it I start to cry. We never thought you'd have that day.
Ms. A. SMITH:
I know.
LAUER:
Science is pumping her
heart
, but love saved her life.
Ms. A. SMITH:
Mike
is why I fought. And the fact that I can't leave my family. I'm not done. I'm not going anywhere. I'll fight up there and say, `You're not ready for me yet because I'm a pistol.'
LAUER:
He -- she's covering her -- his eyes because he can't see the
wedding dress
.
Ally Smith
and her fiance,
Mike Babineaux
, are here, along with her parents,
Krista
and
Ronnie Smith
, and Dr.
Roberta Bogaev
.
Good morning to all
of you.
Dr. BOGAEV:
Good morning.
Ms. K. SMITH:
Good morning.
Mr. SMITH:
Good morning.
LAUER:
You people don't get -- when they're watching this story, they don't see what's happening here on the couch and the tissues are going around and the tears are flowing and you're covering
Mike
's eyes so he can't see the
wedding dress
. And are you really going to wear
electric blue
cowboy boots under that dress?
Ms. A. SMITH:
I wouldn't call them
electric blue
, but yeah, definitely blue.
LAUER:
How you feeling?
Ms. A. SMITH:
Watching that, emotional. But I'm here to do something good, so that's my -- I call it my mission, so.
LAUER:
Can you -- can you imagine if you go back to the point of this illness where you were at your worst, can -- could you ever have imagined that you'd be a month away from getting married, having planned that wedding, you'd be here on the show talking about how you are thriving?
Ms. A. SMITH:
Honestly, when I was at my worst I wasn't even thinking about that. It was -- I honestly didn't know I was going through my worst. I ended up, you know, the second -- after I had gotten home the first time and then a couple days later ending up there within I would say a couple of hours, I was no longer coherent.
LAUER:
Yeah, you were...
Ms. A. SMITH:
And that was for a couple of weeks. And it took me at least two months after I woke up to kind of realize what was going on.
LAUER:
What is your quality of life like now with this pump and the certain degree of mobility you have? What's it like?
Ms. A. SMITH:
A hundred percent better than it was four years ago. I mean, I can -- I'm normal. You know, people ask me, `can you do normal things?'
LAUER:
Are you normal? I mean, do you consider...
Ms. A. SMITH:
Oh, yeah.
LAUER:
...yourself normal? You can do everything I can do?
Ms. A. SMITH:
I -- maybe not lifting heavy weights and running marathons, but I mean...
LAUER:
I can't do either of those things anyway. Don't worry about it.
Ms. A. SMITH:
Well, I can do normal things. I can go and I can obviously travel. I'm here, this is my first long flight.
LAUER:
Right.
Ms. A. SMITH:
But it's -- I do everything a normal person does.
LAUER:
Mike
, you asked
Ally
to marry you when -- right when you found out she was gravely, gravely ill. I'm not going to say you're a good guy, you're clearly very much in love, though.
Mr. MIKE BABINEAUX:
Yeah.
LAUER:
I mean, that was a hard choice for a young man.
Mr. BABINEAUX:
Yeah, it was just a lot of commitment in our relationship. We've been through some
hard times
, but we definitely have a lot of good times and I wanted to see it through the end, you know, all the way. And...
Ms. A. SMITH:
He wasn't going to give up on me.
Mr. BABINEAUX:
Yes. I just love her and, you know, no one in my life could ever replace her in my mind.
LAUER:
Mom and dad
, you ever ask why? Why our daughter? Why -- I mean, this is not a common condition.
Mr. SMITH:
No. It's humbling experience, definitely. You know, she was a thriving
young lady
and, you know, she had a lot of enthusiasm and, you know, she's kind of like the alpha dog personality.
And I
think that got her through it. But, you know, you just never -- you never know.
LAUER:
Doctor, was there another option here for
Ally
at the time where it was at its worst? Was there any other way you could have saved her life other than with this pump?
Dr. BOGAEV:
No, Matt. Her
heart
was failing, her other organs were in jeopardy. And certainly a
heart transplant
was an option, but you're dependent on someone else's misfortune, and you can't pull a
heart transplant
off the shelf. Certainly these mechanical pumps we can now pull off the shelf and support patients.
LAUER:
Well, I -- I'm going to do this. This is the first time I've ever done this,
Ally
.
Ms. A. SMITH:
No, that's fine.
LAUER:
But I have a microphone here and you kind of held up that pump in the piece and showed us where exactly it is.
Ms. A. SMITH:
Yeah, I just grabbed a fluffy thing.
LAUER:
You don't have a heartbeat, is that right?
Ms. A. SMITH:
I have a heartbeat, I have a heartbeat.
LAUER:
But if I put this microphone to your chest, I'm not going to hear ba-bump, ba-bump, ba-bump.
Ms. A. SMITH:
Maybe a little. It depends on how -- if you're down here then no. You'll just...
LAUER:
OK, can I do this?
Ms. A. SMITH:
Oh, yeah, fine.
LAUER:
We have this mike turned on here? I just want to hear what it sounds like. I hear it in the background. If everyone's quiet you can hear it. It's kind of like wooo.
Dr. BOGAEV:
It's very quiet. When we first put the pump in
Ally
, she didn't have a pulse. So you couldn't feel her pulse. But now her
heart
's starting to show some signs of recovery.
LAUER:
So this could be giving her
heart
the rest it needed to recover. And that's my...
Ms. A. SMITH:
Mm-hmm.
LAUER:
...that leads me to my next question. Is
Ally
going to have -- how long can she go on with this device before possibly needing a
heart transplant
or before going back to the power of her own
heart
?
Dr. BOGAEV:
This device is the culminate of 20 years of research. So some patients have had this type of device for almost five years. And it can now support patients for five sometimes we think maybe 10 years until a
heart
's available.
LAUER:
Mom, she's going to walk down the aisle in a month.
Ms. K. SMITH:
Mm-hmm.
LAUER:
After all she's been through, what's that going to be like for you?
Ms. K. SMITH:
Emotional. We're all asking for waterproof makeup. It's really hard because when we went in for the -- for her pump, I mean, she sat down and said, `These are my wishes if I don't make it.' And now we're here. I mean, when your 21-year-old at that time is telling you want color casket she wants and you're saying, `No, we've got to get through this because you're getting married,' I mean,
Mike
's her rock and I think that helped a lot. And prayer and our faith in God really helped us. And the doctors at the
Heart Institute
, Dr.
Bud Frazier
for all he's done to help her pull through, and Dr.
Bogaev
.
LAUER:
Well, Ally...
Ms. A. SMITH:
Yeah.
LAUER:
...congratulations. Good luck in a month. You didn't see it, but the gown is beautiful. You have a stunning and...
Mr. BABINEAUX:
I've heard all about it.
LAUER:
...fabulous bride here. Congratulations to you two.
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