10/28/2014 Vivien Theodore Thomas (1910-1985) In a TV film “Something the Lord Made” (2004), I was enthralled by the story of Vivien Thomas. He was an Africa-American surgical technician, who collabo

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10/28/2014 Vivien Theodore Thomas (1910-1985) In a TV film “Something the Lord Made” (2004), I was enthralled by the story of Vivien Thomas. He was an Africa-American surgical technician, who collaborated with Doctor Alfred Blalock, developed the procedures used to treat blue baby syndrome in 1940s. Vivien Thomas was the son of a carpenter. He started off as a janitor in Alfred Blalock’s laboratory. Without an education higher than high school, he worked diligently and learnt to perform surgical operations. At that time, the surgical operation upon heart was a taboo in 1940s. Both Vivien Thomas and Alfred Blalock strongly believed that there should be ways to cure the “Blue Baby syndrome” through surgical operation. Vivien had successfully improved the procedures after his two-year pain-taking experiment on dogs. After fine-tuned his procedures, he walked it through to Blalock, and the first operation on a human patient was successfully done by Blalock in 1944. Vivien also designed and built delicate instruments that needed in the operation himself. He served as a supervisor of surgical laboratories at Johns Hopkins hospital for 35 years. He was awarded as an honorary doctorate by Johns Hopkins hospital. This is an inspiring story and it has taught me how a perseverance individual had succeeded in his life.

Oct 22, 2014 5:33 AM

Corrections · 2

10/28/2014

Vivien Theodore Thomas (1910-1985)
In aWhile watching the TV film “Something the Lord Made” (2004), I was enthralled by the story of Vivien Thomas. He was an African-American surgical technician, who collaborated with Doctor Alfred Blalock, developedto develop the procedures used to treat blue baby syndrome in the 1940s.
Vivien Thomas was the son of a carpenter. He started off as a janitor in Alfred Blalock’s laboratory. Without an education higher than high school, he worked diligently and learntlearned to perform surgical operations.
At that time, the surgical operation upon heart was a taboo (surgical operations on the heart were a taboo/heart surgery was a taboo) in 1940s (You can use either "At that time" or "in the 1940's" but not both). Both Vivien Thomas and Alfred Blalock strongly believed that there should be ways to cure the “Blue Baby syndrome” through surgical operation.
Vivien had successfully improved the procedures after his two-year painstaking experiment on dogs. After he fine-tuned his procedures, he walked it through towith Blalock, and the first operation on a human patient was successfully done by Blalock in 1944. Vivien also designed and built delicate instruments that were needed in the operation himself.
He served as a supervisor of surgical laboratories at Johns Hopkins hospital for 35 years. He was awarded as an honorary doctorate by Johns Hopkins hospital.
This is an inspiring story and it has taught me how a perseveranceperseverant individual had succeeded in his life.