Toronto pre-teen the youngest person in Canada to receive total artificial heart

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A 12-year-old Toronto girl named Mariam Tannous has gone through multiple heart surgeries and near-death experiences that have given her the nickname "Mariam Miracle," and is the youngest person in Canada to receive a total artificial heart.

Her doctors at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) on Monday detailed their last-ditch measure to save her life when a previous transplant began to fail. It’s all the more remarkable because such devices are only made for adults. The machine barely fit in Mariam’s chest. After implantation, her surgeon, Dr. Osami Honjo, said he left the cavity open for days because it “was just too big to close it right away.”

As Ahmar Khan reports, the rare procedure highlights both the challenges and successes at SickKids.