The former University of Utah president, who served as spokesman for the research team in 1982, recalled the media controversy surrounding Clark's implant. 'Have you ever read a poem about the liver?' asked Peterson. It is endowed with poetic qualities, such as courage and love. Why was the world so interested in the implanting of a total artificial heart? But one of the most important lessons, perhaps, was that 'love can survive the excision of the heart,' Peterson said.Ī decade ago, Clark, his wife and doctors were unprepared for the onslaught of attention by the world as every detail of the historical surgery was reported. Lessons were learned as Clark lived for 112 days sustained by the pulsating of the Jarvik-7 heart, forging the path for artificial heart research today. Chase Peterson told an audience celebrating the anniversary Wednesday. Science - and hundreds whose lives have been extended by an artificial heart - have benefited immensely by the bravery of Clark and the team of surgeons that implanted a plastic pump into the chest of the Seattle dentist 10 years ago, Dr. 'I have loved you with my natural heart in place,' Clark told his wife, Una Loy, 'I wonder if I will love you in a different way without my natural heart.'Following the surgery, Clark, unable to speak, silently mouthed the words, 'I love you,' to his wife.

Barney Clark was going into surgery to have his heart replaced by a machine, he looked up at his wife and wondered out loud how the change of heart would affect his emotions.

Barney clark