Breakthrough!: How Three People Saved "Blue Babies" and Changed Medicine Forever – An Award-Winning Young Adult History of Vivien Thomas and a Historic Surgical Triumph

In 1944 an unprecedented surgical procedure repaired the heart of a child with blue baby syndrome lack of blood oxygen caused by a congenital defect. This landmark operation opened the way for all types of open heart surgery.The team that developed it included a cardiologist and a surgeon, but most of the actual work was done by Vivien Thomas, an African American lab assistant who was frequently mistaken for a janitor.