Charlie Kasten knows what it’s like to sit in a doctor’s office and learn he has months to live. He’s also familiar with the feeling of finding out there’s an alternative—a treatment that might give him years of life.
He prefers the latter.
Charlie is one of the patients who has benefitted from the UW Health Heart Failure, Cardiac Transplantation and Mechanical Circulatory Support Program’s expanded criteria for ventricular assist device (VAD) placement. He is now living his life to the fullest—working on his farm, playing cards with friends at the fire station, and riding a stationary bike and lifting weights
“It’s given me a new lease on life,” he said.
An advanced heart failure diagnosis
Charlie, who is now 77, has had three knee replacements over his lifetime, and during the third procedure, he experienced a bad Staphylococcus bacteria infection. Doctors pumped antibiotics into his heart, and he believes that process weakened his left ventricle. In 2017, he started experiencing heart failure. He took medications and underwent cardiac rehabilitation, but both his heart and kidney functions still rapidly decreased.
By 2025, Charlie’s cardiologist near his home in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, said there was nothing more he could do to help, and that he likely had four to six months to live. He recommended Charlie seek advanced heart failure care at UW Health in Madison.
In Madison, Charlie learned a heart transplant wasn’t an option because of his age and advanced kidney failure. But there was another possibility—he could get a left ventricular assist device (LVAD), a surgically-implanted mechanical pump that helps the heart’s main pumping chamber move oxygen-rich blood to the rest of the body.
Doctors use LVADs as a bridge to heart transplantation in some people, but in Charlie’s case, it would be a lifelong therapy. Recently, the UW Health team has started offering the therapy option to more patients.
It was a big decision for him. “I discussed it with my children and grandchildren,” he said. “They were nervous about me having it, but they also wanted me around. I was the one who made the final decision to get it done. I thought I would get some quality of life for a few more years.”
The right solution for Charlie
On Aug. 14, 2025, Yu Xia, MD, cardiothoracic surgeon at UW Health, implanted an LVAD into Charlie’s chest during an open-heart surgery. He was in the hospital for a month, then returned home to LaCrosse. About a week after he got home, he was back in the hospital with a minor infection, but he quickly recovered and did very well.
“I’ve adjusted to life living on the grid,” Charlie said. “Every night, I plug into the wall and have an electrical cord long enough to go to the bathroom and get a cup of coffee in the morning. I have special shirts that I wear that hide the batteries I must take along wherever I go. And my daughters and granddaughter change my bandage on a daily basis for me.”
Before getting his LVAD, Charlie says he could hardly make it onto his tractor because he was so weak. Now, he can easily climb right in and drive around his 350-acre farm.
While it was an adjustment getting used to his device, Charlie says he feels he absolutely made the right decision.
“My kidneys have come back to 55 percent from 19 percent,” he said. “I have a good VAD team at UW Health that calls me constantly and keeps in touch. I keep moving every day, and I’m grateful that I’m still here.”