On May 3, 1968, Dr. Denton Cooley and his surgical team at Houston’s St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital successfully transplanted the heart of 15-year-old Kathleen Martin into 47-year-old Everett Thomas, an accountant from Phoenix. Cooley was not the first to perform the operation, that distinction went to Dr. Christiaan Barnard five months earlier in South Africa, but he was arguably the first to prove it successful. While other patients died soon after the procedure, Thomas lived for 204 days. Cooley’s team performed two more heart transplants by May 7. In this KHOU news segment, Cooley holds a press conference to describe Thomas’ operation. Helen Thomas then speaks to the media about how her husband was referred for surgery.
Watch the full video at: [ Ссылка ]
Explore the web exhibit, Broadcasting 1968, at: [ Ссылка ]
Contributed by the Houston Metropolitan Research Center.
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