Andrew Jones: Meet the Fitness Model Who Walked With an Artificial Heart in His Backpack for Over 2 Years
Andrew ''AJ'' Jones, a professional fitness model from Farmington, Connecticut, was diagnosed in 2012 with a rare medical condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
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The condition leaves the heart muscle thickened without any obvious cause.
Jones needed a transplant, but since he was placed on a waiting list, he received a left ventricular assist device, a mechanical pump that transported blood from his lower heart chamber throughout his body just as a heart would.
Without a discernible pulse and a working heart, he relied on an artificial heart, constantly connected to two batteries and a computer that he carried in a backpack wherever he went.
Source: UGC
Although he didn't have a self-functioning heart, Jones continued to do his press-ups and other gym routines even in his hospital ward with gadgets attached to him.
His experience with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy informed his decision to establish his own organisation called Hearts At Large to raise awareness for the need of donors and create a network for those in need of donations.
Jones found a matching donor and underwent a heart transplant three years ago.
Briefly News has compiled five best photos of Andrew ''AJ''Jones.
1: Andrew Jones shows off his scars.
2. Jones lifts metals in the gym.
3. Fitness model doing his press-ups.
4. Jones refusing to be bed-ridden by his conditions doing press-ups in a hospital ward.
5. Fitness model shares before and now photo to show progress.
In other news, Briefly News earlier reported that while fitness enthusiasts dream of a fridge filled with only nature's goodness, the rest of South Africa certainly doesn't want the same for themselves - a local fit woman's post proved this to be the case.
Taking to Twitter, popular health and wellness trainer FitZamaswazi shared a photo of the fridge she would love to have in her home that was full of nothing but fruits and vegetables of all shapes and sizes.
"Fridge goals," she captioned the post.
Locals did not seem to have the same goals in mind and were soon in the comment section sharing how they feel about a refrigerator full of nothing but greens.
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Source: Briefly News
Stefan Mack (Editor) Stefan Mack is an English and history teacher who has broadened his horizons with journalism. He enjoys experiencing the human condition through the world's media. Stefan keeps Briefly News' readers entertained during the weekend. He graduated from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2010 with a Bachelor of Education (BEd), majoring in History and English. Stefan has been writing for Briefly News for a number of years and has covered mainstream to human interest articles.
Kelly Lippke (Senior Editor) Kelly Lippke is a copy editor/proofreader who started her career at the Northern-Natal Courier with a BA in Communication Science/Psychology (Unisa, 2007). Kelly has worked for several Caxton publications, including the Highway Mail and Northglen News. Kelly’s unique editing perspective stems from an additional major in Linguistics. Kelly joined Briefly News in 2018 and she has 14 years of experience. Kelly has also passed a set of trainings by Google News Initiative. You can reach her at kelly.lippke@briefly.co.za.
