Into the Heart, a medical odyssey

Video/Audio Gallery | Links | Your Stories | Back to the series

About this series

This is a story of risk taking, tragic loss, and ultimate success — previously untold like this.

And it is a portrait of a unique band of medical trailblazers, notably Dr. C. Walton Lillehei, often called the father of open-heart surgery. Lesser known than the Wright brothers, Edison, and Jonas Salk, Walt Lillehei and his associates nonetheless rank with the best of American pioneers. Perhaps one of the speakers at a recent 80th-birthday tribute put it best when he remarked of Lillehei: ``As the author Tom Wolfe would say, he's the guy with the right stuff.''

Providence Journal staff writer G. Wayne Miller, author of eight earlier series for the newspaper and three Random House books, has spent almost two years reconstructing the story of open-heart surgery. He conducted nearly 200 interviews, and then confirmed the interviewee's recollections through diaries, letters, scientific literature, photographs, news accounts, and medical and legal records. His reporting took him to Minnesota and Alabama, and he watched several open-heart operations in Providence and Boston.

Miller uses direct quotations only when he heard or saw (as in a letter) the words; he paraphrased other words — omitting quotation marks — once he had confirmed that they had been spoken. There are no composite scenes or characters in this story. No names have been changed.

``Into the Heart: A Medical Odyssey,'' is a nine-part series, beginning on Sunday, Jan. 10 and running through Monday, Jan. 18.

Series staff:

G. Wayne Miller, reporter/writer
Tom Heslin, editor
Joel Rawson, story editor
Thea Breite, visuals editor
George Sylvia, graphics
John Freidah and Rachel
Ritchie, photographers

Babette Augustin, design/layout
Linda Henderson, librarian

projo.com production by:
Michael Foran, designer
Chris Gonsalves, producer

Video/Audio Gallery | Links | Your Stories | Back to the series