The titanium metal box implanted inside Hugo Campos' chest keeps him alive.
The size of a wristwatch, the €20,000 gadget houses a generator, circuitry and a battery with thin wires attached directly to the Californian's heart.
"It took me about a year to get used to the idea of having the implant and understanding how things work," he told EUobserver.
The device - or implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), made by US-based firm Medtronic - is designed to treat danger...
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Nikolaj joined EUobserver in 2012 and covers home affairs. He is originally from Denmark, but spent much of his life in France and in Belgium. He was awarded the King Baudouin Foundation grant for investigative journalism in 2010.