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Posts by William F. Causey

We have had dozens of bloggers since this blog began who have been so open with their stories. If you are interested in blogging, too, we'd love to hear from you. Please email info@achaheart.org.

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She Touched My Heart

by William F. Causey on Tuesday, Mar 04, 2025

Dr. Helen Taussig, my cardiologist when I was a baby in Baltimore with a congenital heart condition, did not use a stethoscope to listen to my heart. After a childhood ear infection led to permanent hearing loss, Dr. Taussig used her fingers to feel the irregular rhythm of my defective heart that enabled her to diagnose my pulmonary stenosis.

By 1952, when I was three years old and could no longer walk and function normally, with a prognosis that I would not live much longer, Dr. Taussig convinced her Johns Hopkins colleague Alfred Blalock, the world-famous cardiac surgeon, to perform open heart surgery to repair my pulmonary valve.

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At the Beginning: The Groundbreaking Story of Vivien Thomas

by William F. Causey on Wednesday, Feb 09, 2022

In April 1952, at the age of three, I had open heart surgery at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. My life was saved by two remarkable cardiologists, Alfred Blalock, MD, and Helen Taussig, MD, and a third important member of the team: Vivien Thomas, Blalock’s surgical assistant. I had pulmonary stenosis, a congenital heart condition that prevented me from walking more than a few steps. I was always tired, and my lips and fingernails had a bluish tinge. I was the classic “blue baby.” If it had not been for this team and, as I later learned, particularly Vivien Thomas, I would not have lived to my fourth birthday.

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