Last year, Stan Larkin walked out of the hospital without a heart. No, Larkin was not a zombie or the tin man from the Wizard of Oz, but rather the first recipient of a portable heart, thanks to innovative technology from the University of Michigan.

At 14, Larkin was diagnosed with arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia, a serious heart condition that can cause sudden cardiac arrest, the NY Daily News reported. The teen was in desperate need of a heart transplant, but as you can imagine, working human hearts are hard to come by. This year his condition deterioted and doctors needed to remove the young man’s most vital organ. Unfortunately, no heart was available for transplantation, so Larkin was hooked up to “Big Blue,” a 418-pound device, around the same size and stature of a washing machine, in order to deliver oxygen to his organs.

In November of last year, Larkin truly got the opportunity of a lifetime. He was offered a chance to try out the world’s first portable heart, the SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart. The device is attached to an external compressor through two tubes connected to the young man’s chest.

“It was a stressful situation,” said Larkin, explaining in the YouTube video documenting his surgery his initial hesitations on the risky procedure. “After I got it, I felt so much better. I felt like before I had any heart problems. I felt like I could do anything.”

Now Larkin will no longer need to stay in the hospital’s intensive care unit as he waits for an available heart transplant. He is free to move, wearing the portable artificial heart on his back like a backpack.