Bet most people have never heard of Vivien Thomas, and I wouldn't have either, but for an award-winning feature story about him in one of my course textbooks.
The story--"Like Something the Lord Made"--was written by Katie McCabe for The Washingtonian , a city magazine in Washington, D.C.
McCabe's story about Vivien Thomas and Dr. Alfred Blalock of Johns Hopkins Hospital won the coveted National Magazine Award for feature writing in 1990.
Have you or a member of your immediate or extended family had open heart surgery? (I had a double bypass in April 2008).
If so, you should get down on your knees and give thanks to Vivien Thomas; he never went to college, let alone medical school. But starting out as a lab assistant for Dr. Blalock, who became interested in doing heart surgery after researching the hearts of dogs, Thomas figured out how to solve the problem of "blue babies." He was right by Dr. Blalock's side in the surgery room at Johns Hopkins Hospital when Blalock performed the very first human heart surgery (on a blue baby) in 1944. Thomas walked Blalock through the surgery, telling him what to do and how.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Why hasn't Vivien Thomas gotten his due regard in American history?
Here's a man who was a true giant in medicine, training many heart surgeons at Johns Hopkins.
He's the man behind the man (Dr. Blalock) who changed American medicine.
An African-American, he should be getting as much recognition today (which happens to be part of Black History Month) as the other heroes of African American culture. Vivien Thomas is right up there, in my opinion, with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.
He's a hero, and most of us have never heard of him.
Read McCabe's story. And now there's a 2004 movie--"Something the Lord Made"--that you can get from Amazon.com
Click here for a few scenes from that powerful film.
And click here for my favorite scene.
8 comments:
Thanks for sharing this great movie with us! I bought it!
I read that book.did not know about the film.could not happen these days.
It sounds really interesting, I like stories who accomplish great things without a bunch of fancy degrees and etc. It's encouraging when I get down on myself :)
I definitely recommend that everyone read the story about Vivien Thomas and watch the movie.
Quite an eye opener!
WOW. THAT WAS TOUCHING. I MUST WATCH THE ENTIRE MOVIE. YOU WOULD ALSO ENJOY THE STORY OF CHARLES DREW, A BLACK DOCTOR WHO REVOLUTIONIZED MEDICINE BY DEVELOPING THE FIRST BLOOD BANKS. HIS INNOVATIONS SAVED THE LIVES OF THOUSANDS IN WWII,UNFORTUNATELY DESPITE ALL HIS EFFORTS HE WAS INVOLVED IN A CAR ACCIDENT IN THE 5O'S AND PREVENTED FROM RECEIVING THE SAME TREATMENT HE HELPED TO CREATE. --- HATS OF TO VIVIEN THOMAS... THANK YOU FOR SHARING.
D. SETH
Debra--Thanks for reading and watching and spreading the good word about Vivien Thomas, a giant in American medicine.
Wow -powerful clip you posted there. It was an grand moment in history that was tarnished by racism. I'm thankful we have made strides in both departments: health and equality. Thanks for sharing Vivien's story. Just went I needed a bit of an uplift. :)
As you say, Beth: powerful and moving story. And now, finally, more people are coming to know about it.
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