LONDON — The former firefighter who became the first man to live without a pulse has died, six months after receiving mechanical pumps in place of his heart.
Jakub Halik, originally from the Czech Republic, had his heart replaced with two mechanical pumps last April after a cancerous tumor was found, according to the BBC.
Doctors say that Halik died from liver failure and had been on the waiting list for a transplant.
Although Halik had no pulse, he had been still able to walk around and use the hospital gym, just as long as he carried around the battery pack that powered his mechanical heart.
Halik was the second man to have had the landmark surgery; the first being a man from Texas who died a week after the operation.
Four months after have his surgery done in Prague, Halik said he felt “very good physically” and that he was glad he decided to have the surgery done.
Doctors estimated that had Halik continued to live with the tumor, he would’ve survived a year.
Health officials are awaiting the results of a post-mortem examination to find out why Halik’s liver failed.