ATIVE

NARRICTION
NONFke fiction

li
reads ts all true
but i

The

PHOTO COLLAGE: CHRISTOPHER B. SHORT. BABIES: CORBIS , GETTY IMAGES. THE ALAN MASON
CHESNEY MEDICAL ARCHIVES OF THE JOHNS HOPKINS MEDICAL INSTITUTION (VIVIEN THOMAS).

Man
Who
a
Thous
Babies
4 SCHOLASTIC SCOPE NOVEMBER 2015

A hero is a
person who is
courageous,
outstanding, or noble. In what way was
Vivien Thomas a hero?

AS YOU READ,
THINK ABOUT:

Saved
sand
VIVIEN THOMAS WAS ONE OF THE GREAT HEROES
OF 20TH-CENTURY MEDICINE. SO WHY HAVENT
YOU HEARD OF HIM? BY LAUREN TARSHIS

ne-year-old Eileen Saxon was dying. Tiny and

weak, she weighed just 9 pounds. Her lips and
fingernails were dark blue. Shed been born with
a heart condition that starved her body of

oxygen. It was clear that she had little time left.

SCOPE.SCHOLASTIC.COM NOVEMBER 2015

African Americans and

unique. At the timethe early

other minorities was

1940sthousands of so-called

widespread. Much of the

blue babies were born each year.

country was segregated

Most lived no more than a few

black Americans were

years, because doctors had no way

kept separate from white

to help them.

Americans. Black people

That was about to change.

were banned from most

On November 29, 1944, Eileen

white schools and nearly

was wheeled into an operating

all universities. They were

room at Johns Hopkins Hospital

turned away from hospitals,

in Baltimore, Maryland. People

barred from sitting in the

watched from a glassed-in gallery

front of buses, forbidden to

above, eager to witness the first

swim in public pools

attempt ever made to perform

or set foot in many

surgery on a blue babys heart.

public libraries.

Three doctors hovered over Eileen,

There were

plus a team of the hospitals most

some African-

experienced nurses and other

American

medical staff.

doctors, but

When it came to the success of

they were

the operation, though, the most

not allowed

important person in the room was

to work in

not a doctor or a nurse. He was a

most hospitals,

soft-spoken young man, trained as

including Johns

a carpenter, who stood on a stool

Hopkins.

looking over the chief surgeons

Yet in the

shoulder. This young manVivien

operating room

Thomashad never been to

on that November day, it

medical school or even college, but

was Vivien Thomas, an African-

each time the surgeon was ready

American man, whose knowledge

to make a cut or stitch into Eileens

would make the difference between

tiny chest, he would listen for

life and death for Eileen Saxon.

one of the most important figures

In a healthy heart,
blood travels through the
heart to the lungs, where
it receives oxygen. Then
the blood travels back
through the heart and
out into the rest of the
body. A blue babys heart
has defects that allow blood
without enough oxygen to
travel through the body.

medical school. Since the age of

11, he had worked weekends and

Thomass instructions.
Today, Thomas is considered

THE HEART

Shattered Plans
Thomas grew up in Nashville,

afternoons as a carpenter, saving

money for his education.

in 20th-century medicine. Back in

Tennessee, a segregated city

1944, however, almost no medical

with a vibrant African-American

high school graduation, Thomass

school in America would have

community. He attended Pearl

plans were shattered by the Great

accepted him as a student.

High School, which was known for

Depression. This national economic

its rigorous standards. Thomas

crisis led to millions of Americans

graduated with top grades and

losing their jobs. Banks closed their

planned to attend college and then

doors, and many people, including

A Time of Prejudice
In the 1940s, racism against

6 SCHOLASTIC SCOPE NOVEMBER 2015

But in 1930, the year of his

SHUTTERSTOCK (HEART); THE ALAN MASON CHESNEY MEDICAL

ARCHIVES OF THE JOHNS HOPKINS MEDICAL INSTITUTION (SURGERY)

Eileens condition was not

Thomas; it paid one-third

treatment. Their discovery was

of what Thomas had earned

celebrated around the world,

as a carpenter, or the same

and, within a few months, Blalock

amount earned by the

was invited to become chief of

Vanderbilt hospital janitors.

surgery at one of the countrys best

But jobs were scarce, and,

hospitals: Johns Hopkins.

besides, Thomas wanted

Blalock accepted the position

to start college as soon as

on one condition: that Thomas

possible. He figured he

could come work with him.

wouldnt be working for

Blalock for long.
Little did he know.

Thomas was married by then,

with two young children. With
some reluctance, he and his
family moved north to Maryland.

No Ordinary
Worker
Blalock quickly

There, Thomas faced the same

discrimination hed left behind.
He even had a hard time finding a

realized that Thomas was

place to live. And Johns Hopkins

extraordinarily gifted.

had a long history of segregation.

Blalock began teaching

Yet Thomas found the work with

Thomas about conducting

Blalock as exciting as ever.

experiments, and Thomas set about

THE SURGERY

Alfred
Blalock, Helen Taussig, and
Vivien Thomas pioneered a surgery that
rerouted the blood around the heart
defect that caused blue baby syndrome.

YOUSUF KARSH (ALFRED BLALOCK, HELEN TAUSSIG); THE ALAN MASON CHESNEY
MEDICAL ARCHIVES OF THE JOHNS HOPKINS MEDICAL INSTITUTION (VIVIEN THOMAS)

Thomas, lost their life savings. With

no money and no carpentry work

learning all he could. He worked

16-hour days and often headed

A Call to Action
Soon after moving, Thomas and

home with a stack of medical

Blalock met a woman who would

textbooks, which he studied late

change the course of their work

into the night. Within a few years,

and their lives. Helen Taussig

Thomas was designing experiments

was the first female pediatric

to test his and Blalocks theories.

cardiologist in the U.S. Shed

Outside the lab, Thomas dealt

already saved many lives, but could

to be found, Thomas was desperate

with the daily humiliations of living

do nothing for blue babies. Taussig

for a job. His search led him to the

in the segregated South. Inside

challenged Blalock to design a

office of a brash and brilliant young

the lab, amid the bright lights and

surgical procedure that would

doctor named Alfred Blalock at

test tubes, Thomas and Blalock

create a new pathway for blood to

Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

were true partners. (Yet after six

travel between the heart and lungs.

Blalock came from a rich and

years, Thomas was still making

It was an enormous challenge.

well-known white Southern family.

only a menial wage. Whats more,

Heart surgery was considered the

At 32, he was already the head of

he discovered that in Vanderbilts

Mount Everest of medicinefew

Vanderbilts department of surgery.

official records, his job title was

had attempted it, and nobody had

He needed help in his laboratory,

janitor, the only job the school saw

succeeded.

where he was studying a condition

fit for a black man.)

called shock, from which many

patients died during surgery.
Blalocks job offer didnt impress

In 1940, Blalock and Thomas at

Over the next few months,

while Blalock was busy with his

last discovered one of the causes

new responsibilities,

of shock and designed an effective

Thomas labored in the lab.

SCOPE.SCHOLASTIC.COM NOVEMBER 2015

blue skin turned a healthy

pink. Youve never seen
anything so dramatic,
Thomas would later recall.
It was almost a miracle.
Within months,
babies across the country
were being rushed to
Johns Hopkins. Blalock
became famous. Thomas
continued his work in the
lab, in the background.

Blalock died in 1964,

THE UNSUNG HERO Inside his lab,

Vivien Thomas was respected for his intellect and

leadership. But outside the lab, Thomas faced prejudice
and countless humiliations. How does the juxtaposition
of these two photos show how different Thomass life was
inside and outside the lab?

but Thomas remained at

Johns Hopkins until 1979.
By then he was a legend at
the medical school, and a
highly respected professor.
Johns Hopkins finally

syndrome in animals so that he

But they had never tried it on a

human. Eileen would be the first.

recognized Thomas and awarded

him an honorary doctorate 32 years

could then work on treating it. He

Thomas expected to watch

after the first blue-baby surgery.

designed new medical instruments

the surgery from the gallery, but

Thomas never became rich

when he could find none delicate

Blalock wanted Thomas next

or famous, but he blazed a trail

enough for his work.

to him. Thomas, after all, had

for other African Americans in

performed the operation hundreds

medicine, including his own

received a frantic call from Taussig.

of times on animals. Blalock had

nephew, who entered Johns

There was a little girl in the infant

After about a year, Blalock

done the entire procedure once.

Hopkins School of Medicine in

ward of the hospital, lying in an

Throughout the operation,

1983. Thomas also trained two

oxygen tent. She was dying. Her

Blalock asked for Thomass help.

generations of heart surgeons,

name was Eileen Saxon.

When the final clamp was removed

some of whom are still operating.

By then, Thomas and Blalock

and the blood began flowing along

His portrait now hangs across from

had developed the procedure that

its new route, Thomas and Blalock

Blalocks in the medical school.

Taussig had asked for. Theyd

stood shoulder to shoulder, their

found a way to attach one artery

attention fixed on their tiny patient.

Thomas died in 1985, but his

legacy lives on, beat after beat,

to another, giving the blood a new

Had the surgery worked?

in the hearts of the thousands of

pathway to the lungs.

Seconds passed. Eileens sickly

people he helped save.

WRITING CONTEST
The U.S. Post Office is releasing a new postage stamp. Its looking for a historical figure who
overcame obstacles and contributed something important to society. Write an essay arguing
that Vivien Thomas should be on the new stamp. Send your essay to HEART CONTEST.
Five winners will get Breakthrough! by Jim Murphy. See page 2 for details.
GET THIS
ACTIVITY
ONLINE

8 SCHOLASTIC SCOPE NOVEMBER 2015

COURTESY OF THE HISTORICAL COLLECTION ESKIND BIOMEDICAL LIBRARY/VANDERBILT

UNIVERSITY. THE FAMILY OF CLARE THOMAS (LAB); BETTMANN/CORBIS (SEGREGATION)

He learned to create blue baby