Charles Tillman went through a lot to get his baby daughter a Berlin heart, now he speaks about it in Washington.

Charels Tillman is a starting cornerback for the Chicago Bears. His daughter Tiana was diagnosed with a rare condition called cardiomyopathy, which is an enlargement of the heart that inhibits beating. If she could not get a heart transplant she would have parted from this earth prematurely. That is where the Berlin heart ended up saving her life.

Because of this amazing device, Tiana Tillman was given a few more precious days until a donor could be located. That heart donor was eventually found and a successful heart transplant ensued when she was just 3 months old. Her life was saved.

So what is the Berlin heart? It is a ventricular assist device which helps the right ventricle of the heart muscle pump blood to the lungs and to the left ventricle, which facilitates the normal flow of blood through the body. The Berlin Heart mostly sits outside of the body with external tubes that cycle the blood into the heart. The entire artificial circulation system is run with a laptop computer!

Charles Tillman was invited to Washington DC to speak about the Berlin Heart on October 26th. A video is above which we hope you will all watch. This is a feel good story before the holidays and a public service that we hope saves more lives.

Charles Tillman’s daughter was lucky enough to have one of these devices for a few days when she needed it to survive.

About the Washington speech, Tillman said:

“I felt it was my duty to do it. For everything she went through and the other recipients go through this is the least that I can do. Flying to Washington, staying in a nice hotel and speaking to politicians is easy considering what they’ve done.”