All photos created by Gary Logan. 

On a recent August morning, 休·迈克尔·伊登本以他惯常的快速步伐走进约翰·霍普金斯儿童中心的中庭. 当问讯处接待员Elyse Geber得知这位76岁的访客是谁时, however, she had to catch her breath.

“Oh my God,” she greeted him, placing her hand on her heart. “You’re history.”

On Oct. 2, 1945, Edenburn, then 2 years and 7 months, 接受了“蓝色婴儿”手术，以修复先天性心脏缺陷，直到1944年约翰霍普金斯大学开发并引入开创性的手术，这种先天性心脏缺陷已经夺走了数千名婴儿的生命. As a former respiratory therapist at the Children’s Center, Geber knew all about tetralogy of Fallot, 这是一种致命的疾病，由于肺部缺乏血液流动，孩子的皮肤呈蓝色或“青紫”色. 她还知道阿尔弗雷德·布莱洛克领导的里程碑式手术的历史, 儿童心脏病专家海伦·陶西格(Helen Taussig)的重要诊断工作以及外科技术人员维维安·托马斯(Vivien Thomas)的关键实验室研究. 四分之三个世纪后，在她面前有一个推荐十大正规网赌平台，格贝尔觉得，是令人惊讶的. Colleagues aware of his arrival were equally thrilled.

他说:“作为约翰·霍普金斯大学的一名心脏外科医生，很荣幸见到你。 Robert Higgins, director of the Department of Surgery. “正是在这里，我们最初有能力治疗心脏病患者. 能和曾经接受过治疗的人在一起真是太了不起了.”
           
“You are an example and a reminder of our past, 心脏外科的创新以及儿科心脏病学如何成为一门专业,” said Shelby Kutty, 约翰霍普金斯儿童中心的Blalock-Taussig-Thomas儿科和先天性心脏中心的联合主任. “你的来访帮助我思考了蓝宝宝行动的历史，以及使之成为可能的极端合作.”

“Amazing!” added Johns Hopkins Hospital President Redonda Miller, shaking her head as Edenburn, trim and beaming with energy, 在比林斯行政大楼的大厅里走近她, the home of the original hospital. “Do you feel well?”

“Yes, of course,” answered Edenburn. “我的医生告诉我，我的血液化学成分是一个非常健康的25岁的人. I got the results in my computer; I can show you,” he added, leaving Miller doubled over with laughter.

当艾登本还是爱荷华州滑铁卢市的一个蹒跚学步的孩子时，他的健康状况与现在大不相同. Without enough oxygen to reach his lungs, doctors informed his mother, he would be bedridden by 3 years old and dead by 5 or 6. Prepare yourself, they said.

Instead, after reading an article in Collier’s 杂志报道了布莱洛克革命性的手术，她准备带儿子去巴尔的摩. 他是手术的候选人，该手术通过连接离开心脏的动脉和通往肺部的动脉来提供第二次氧合机会, a procedure that came to be known as the Blalock-Taussig shunt. Taussig logged Edenburn into her patient registry as Blue Baby #44.

A Lifesaving Journey

Edenburn只记得他在约翰霍普金斯大学最初的几个时刻:医院的前门, 高耸的基督雕像就在门口，他站在病房的婴儿床上哭泣，因为他想念他的母亲. 他回忆道，陶西格在手术前用手指敲打他的胸部，感觉他的心悸. He also remembers that, after the operation, he was able to breathe freely for the first time in his life.

Over the next six years, 在他的家人搬到伍斯特之前，艾登本在约翰霍普金斯大学进行了后续访问, Massachusetts. 然而，随着年龄的增长，他的血液循环出现了问题，呼吸也变得更加困难. Then, at the age of 18, events presented another challenge. 当时他在耶鲁因车祸受伤接受治疗, doctors diagnosed him with subacute bacterial endocarditis, an infection of the lining of the heart.

在评估了这名青少年的呼吸困难和病史后, the physicians recommended an updated tetralogy of Fallot repair. 到1960年，对Blalock-Taussig分流术的兴趣促使该手术不断发展. 来自世界各地的医生来到约翰霍普金斯大学，让阿尔弗雷德·布莱洛克向他们展示如何进行手术. Indeed, from 1944 to 2006, over 2,约翰霍普金斯大学28名外科医生于1月1日进行了000例Blalock-Taussig分流术,880 patients from 35 countries (Annals of Thoracic Surgery 2007). Operative mortality was 14%, but most patients survived and many, like Edenburn, continue to live long lives.

“在修理之前，我的朋友们总是等着我赶上他们，”伊登本告诉希金斯. “After the surgery, I was waiting for them.”

Then he charged full steam into life. 他的企业家精神先是让他创办了一家办公室清洁公司，然后, thanks to a talent for technology, his own computer business.

“I sold Dells,” he said. “It wasn’t work, I enjoyed it.”

Now, he also enjoys life in Cebu with his wife Epifania, whom he met in the Philippines and married in 1997. He eats mostly fish and avoids red meat, dairy and alcohol, except for an occasional glass of red wine. He has never smoked. His major activity is volunteering for the Gift of Life program, 哪家医院为像他这样先天性心脏病的孩子提供手术. “So far, 140 lives saved,” he said.

他称自己的生活是一个奇迹，并将他的生存归功于约翰霍普金斯大学, which prompted his reaching out to Kutty to arrange a visit.

“Do you know who Vivien Thomas is?他问医院走廊上遇到的护士和医生. “How about Helen Taussig?”

Then he revealed, to their astonishment, who he is.

So, why the return visit now, almost 70 years later?

“我想看看基督雕像，费雯·托马斯的肖像，”艾登本说. 然后他低下头，泪流满面:“这对我来说真的很激动. 我想知道有没有人知道我，有没有人听说过我.”

他们——他已经建立了联系，而希金斯想要保持联系. After hearing about Edenburn’s Gift of Life efforts, 他分享了自己作为胸外科医生协会主席的工作，以降低撒哈拉以南非洲和亚洲等地区晚期心脏病的死亡率和发病率.

“Creating programs and training indigenous persons to provide care, that’s the ticket from my perspective,” said Higgins. “We need more charitable souls like you.”

事实上，总是有更多的事情要做，艾登本同意——他仍然有这样的心.

“How’s your heart today?” someone asked as he left.

He responded, “It’s great.”

Learn more about the history of heart surgery in the article, "The History of Heart Medicine at Johns Hopkins."