Eileen Saxon
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Eileen Saxon was an infant known as "The Blue Baby", because of a condition called blue baby syndrome caused by lack of oxygen in the blood. This made her lips and fingers turn blue, with the rest of her skin having a very faint blue tinge. She could only take a few steps before beginning to breathe heavily.
On November 29, 1944, Saxon was the first human to receive a groundbreaking operation (now known as a Blalock-Taussig shunt) suggested by pediatric cardiologist Helen B. Taussig and administered by Alfred Blalock, with Vivien Thomas, who had perfected the surgery in laboratory tests on animals, standing over his shoulder to advise him on performing the surgery.
The surgery had been designed and first performed on lab dogs by Thomas, who taught the technique to Blalock. Although Thomas perfected the technique, he could not perform the surgery because he was not a doctor. In fact, it was frowned upon when Dr. Blalock brought his black lab assistant into the operating room to guide him through the surgery.
The surgery was not completely successful, since Eileen Saxon became blue (cyanotic) again a few months later. Another shunt was attempted on the opposite side of the chest, but she died a few days afterwards, very close to her third birthday.
Even though Eileen died, she lived long enough to demonstrate that the operation would work. The team later discovered the operation worked best in older children. Eileen herself could not have waited any longer. By the time the first shunt was attempted on her, she was in danger of dying.
The 2004 movie produced by HBO, Something The Lord Made, is a dramatic documentary based on the Saxon baby operation.
