Have you ever seen a baby that couldn’t breathe? Blue baby syndrome is not rare it is actually very common. This is the story about how one man changed the lives for many young blue babies. Vivien Thomas was an African American kid who had a dream of going to college and becoming a doctor. Vivien worked very hard for money to go to college. Most colleges wouldn't accept him because it was 1930 and racism was at large. When Vivien Thomas was 11 he got a job as a carpenter to save money for college. Vivien graduated high school with top grades and was planning on going to college. But Vivien’s dreams were shattered by The Great Depression. Banks lost all the peoples money, including Vivien’s money. Vivien had no money and there was no carpentry
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Vivien and his family packed up their stuff and moved so he could work at Johns Hopkins hospital. On their first day a women named Helen Taussigg charged Vivien and Alfred with designing an effective cure for blue baby syndrome. Alfred and Vivien studied for years and eventually developed a procedure for blue baby syndrome. Vivien had done the procedure hundreds of times on animals and Alfred had only done the whole operation once. One day there was a little girl named Eileen Saxon in an oxygen tent at Johns Hopkins and Helen asked Alfred to do the surgery. Alfred said he would but Thomas had to be in there with him. The surgery was successful and the procedure was called The Blalock Taussigg Procedure. Nobody knew that Vivien Thomas had helped with the making of the …show more content…
So blue babies are still today very common and are still being cured the same way. Vivien Thomas patted the way for other African Americans in medicine after that. Alfred now has a portrait hanging up in the hallway of Johns Hopkins hospital. Later they put up a portrait of Vivien Thomas up across the hall. Vivien had a very hard battle and he was able to push through it and has inspired and trained 2 generations of heart surgeons. Vivien Thomas was a very inspiring and a huge stepping stone in
Vivien and his family packed up their stuff and moved so he could work at Johns Hopkins hospital. On their first day a women named Helen Taussigg charged Vivien and Alfred with designing an effective cure for blue baby syndrome. Alfred and Vivien studied for years and eventually developed a procedure for blue baby syndrome. Vivien had done the procedure hundreds of times on animals and Alfred had only done the whole operation once. One day there was a little girl named Eileen Saxon in an oxygen tent at Johns Hopkins and Helen asked Alfred to do the surgery. Alfred said he would but Thomas had to be in there with him. The surgery was successful and the procedure was called The Blalock Taussigg Procedure. Nobody knew that Vivien Thomas had helped with the making of the …show more content…
So blue babies are still today very common and are still being cured the same way. Vivien Thomas patted the way for other African Americans in medicine after that. Alfred now has a portrait hanging up in the hallway of Johns Hopkins hospital. Later they put up a portrait of Vivien Thomas up across the hall. Vivien had a very hard battle and he was able to push through it and has inspired and trained 2 generations of heart surgeons. Vivien Thomas was a very inspiring and a huge stepping stone in