hello everybody welcome to my channel today i am going to explain an inspirational true story film
called something the lord made it's the story of dr vivian thomas
how a man who studied only up to high school made his valuable contribution to the field of medicine
the story of the film begins in the late 1920s in that era the discrimination based on color
in america was at its peak young vivien thomas was working as a carpenter in an
under construction building he was a high school student who wanted to go to college
he was working for his college tuition fees his father was also a carpenter taught in very well
one day his supervisor comes to him pays his daily wages and says that you do good work
but i have to support the other workers too as they have a family he then fires him now a friend
of vivian tells him about a new job at a lab run by one young surgeon named dr alfred blaylock
dr blaylock speaks to vivian and says we do medical research on shock in this lab
we bring dogs from a nearby dog house experiment on them study their conditions and publish our
results you have to clean the lab daily feed the dogs on time and walk them so we need a
janitor here the shock is a body condition in which blood circulation in the body stops
many organs don't get sufficient blood in time due to which multi-organ failure occurs
allergic reactions blood loss heart failure blood infections dehydration poisoning are some of the
causes of shock vivian accepts that job now while working in the lab vivian reads all medical books
he learns all the procedure to conduct the experiments he has now completed high school
but still had no money to go to college so he continues his work at the lab dr blaylock
also notices his interest and he encourages him actively dr blaylock teaches him all procedures
in a few months he starts doing the entire experiments of the lab on his own conducting
them noting the results and filing the report in between vivian marries clara when his life was
going well on september 29 1929 the u.s stock market crashes and the great depression begins
the bank in which he kept all of his college money goes under bankruptcy
his plan to go to college was also over now vivian's father brother harold and the rest
of the family members actively supports him for the next many years vivian and
dr blaylock worked together in the lab and continued to conduct the systematic research
dr blaylock now had full confidence in vivian's knowledge and skills that's why he started acting
as a supervisor dr blaylock gives a white coat to vivian symbolizing that he is equal to a lab
technician in experience after the 1941 attack on pearl harbor the united states goes to war dr
blaylock's research proves to be quite useful to treat soldiers who are suffering from shock due to
bleeding dr blaylock now gets the top job of chief of surgery at the famous medical research hospital
johns hopkins he and vivian now go from nashville to baltimore baltimore was a broken cosmopolitan
inflation was too high vivian and clara were having trouble getting into this big city
baltimore was infamous at that time for racism dr blaylock and vivian when they go to hospital from
the front door the doctor shows him the portraits of all the great doctors in the hall of fame
there there was a portrait of johns hopkins himself who started the hospital sir william
osler the father of american medicine it is only then that the hospital security says that
black people are supposed to come from the back door dr blaylock tries to convince him but fails
on his first day at work vivian wears his white coat and walks like a regular guy
everyone at the hospital feels astonished in their entire life they never saw a colored man
walking with a white coat so far colored people used to be janitors there were no black doctors
no black technicians vivian was the first official black lab technician since he had
no official degree of a lab technician the hospital allotted him the job classification
of janitor only like the rest of the other black staff vivian initially didn't know that
in the meantime claire complains that baltimore is way more expensive where it is getting difficult
for her and her children to adjust vivian says dr blaylock had received offers from many hospitals
but he refused many of them because they did not want him he says when i started
working i was just a janitor but today i am the lab assistant to the chief of surgery in
one of the country's best hospitals he convinces clara to adjust to a new life
to earn extra money he starts to do all odd jobs he can like working as a plumber in his apartment
as a waiter at dr blaylock's parties during one such party dr blaylock meets dr helen taussig
dr helen was a pediatrician and had many cases with blue baby syndrome blue baby
syndrome occurs in newborn babies where their body color turns to blue hemoglobin is responsible for
transporting oxygen to body cells when hemoglobin is low in blood the skin color turns to be blue
the main reason for hemoglobin deficiency is low blood oxygen babies with defective heart anatomy
cause blue baby syndrome in them in an easy language there are two parts in a normal heart
the left side and the right side both sides are separated by a fine membrane
the heart is basically a pump which always pumps blood all the oxygenated blood coming from the
body first goes to the right side of the heart from there it gets pumped into the lungs when we
inhale the oxygen from the nose it goes to the lungs in lungs the chemical exchange happens
oxygen enters the blood and carbon dioxide goes out this oxidized blood from the lungs goes to the
left part of the heart from there it gets pumped to rest on the body these processes continue
there are four main reasons for different heart condition in blue baby patients
one of the main reasons is caused by a hole in the membrane that separates the left from the right
when there is a hole in the membrane some part of the blood which gets pumped to the lungs from the
right side flows directly to the left side this is to oxygenated blood hence it carries no oxygen
when such blood is pumped from the left side to the rest of the body it reduces the overall
oxygen level dr helen forces dr blaylock to accept this challenge until 1940 surgery on the heart was
written off the popular belief in the medical fraternity was in order to conduct a surgery
you have to stop the heart for at least three minutes by that time the patient dies
hence it was taught in all the medical schools not to touch the heart dr helen recently got a new
case daughter of mr and mrs saxon she was already a pale blue color she didn't have much time
now vivian and dr blaylock start their research first they want to induce the effect of the
blue baby syndrome in a healthy dog study its effects and after that find the surgical cure
after america entered world war ii in 1941 hospitals filled up with injured soldiers
dr blaylock was too busy in regular operations hence he was not able to give much time to medical
research all the responsibility of conducting heavy research fell on the shoulders of vivian
vivian now starts to study the heart defect of blue baby it was no easy task to induce the exact
effect of blue baby syndrome in a healthy dog it took 7 months and 200 unsuccessful
dogs to arrive at the solution vivian was no veterinary doctor but due to his experience with
dogs in nashville he was able to successfully induce that effect he invented many surgical
instruments many surgical techniques he worked 10 to 12 hours a day he was so well versed with
dog treatment that a local dog house asked him to volunteer every weekend to do the surgery on dogs
dr longmore who was a resident of dr blaylock also wished to learn all these new techniques from him
in the meantime one day vivian's elder brother harold thomas comes to baltimore to pay a visit
to him harold was fighting a case against the school board in the u.s supreme court his lawyer
was legendary thurgood marshall thurgood marshall later went on to become the first
black supreme court judge in 1967 at that time school teachers were not paid equally in the u.s
there was discrimination in payment based on color after 12 years of legal battle the judgment was
about to come harold advised vivian to go back to nashville he wanted him to quit that dead-end job
vivian politely reasons it out on knowing his job classification and salary are the same as that
of other janitors vivian gets furious he demands from dr blaylock that he should be given a higher
salary a job classification of a lab technician he threatens to quit the job and go back to nashville
dr blaylock talks with the chairman of the hospital the hospital finally agrees to hire
vivian as a lab technician ignoring all hiring rules now dr blaylock suggests a new method to get
more oxygen in the blood he says the blood that comes from the left side of the heart if we rewire
it to the right side through a stunt then we can give more oxygen to the right side of the heart
then the right side of the heart will pump more blood to the lungs once the lungs start
exchanging more oxygen more oxygen will circulate in the body vivian now tries this new method after
a few days of hard work and failure finally he was able to create more oxygen in the dog's body
dr blaylock checks that and says did you really do that vivian it looked like something the lord
made now dr blaylock and vidian explained their research to dr helen all the three now do the
same experiment on another dog this time dr blaylock performs the surgery while vivian
standing next to him explains all the procedures in detail the operation was successful and now
they were ready to perform the same operation on a saxon baby dr blaylock now explains the
procedure to mr and mrs saxon and all the risks associated with it since there was no other option
they agreed for the operation dr blaylock asks his resident doctors dr longmore and dr cooley
to assist him and dr helen in the surgery on the day of the operation all the other doctors of the
hospital administrative board members chairman everybody comes to see this complex procedure
everything was right on the operation table but dr blaylock starts to feel uncomfortable
so he asks his assistant dr longmore to bring vivian to ot after checking dr longmore informs
dr blaylock that the hospital administration is not allowing vivian into ot as he is
not a doctor or a nurse dr blaylock furiously announces on public mic to vivian to come to ot
when he arrives at the ot dr blaylock tells him to stand beside him and instruct him all
the procedures step by step vivian does the same when dr blaylock connects the left side of the
heart to the right side of the heart the baby skin color starts to change from blue to pink everybody
in the room starts to rejoice it was the first successful heart operation in the world everyone
saks and parents the staff dr blaylock was happy dr blaylock appreciates the skills of vivian
in the newspapers in time magazine articles were written about the first successful heart operation
but the name of vivian thomas was nowhere dr blaylock and dr helen were credited with the
discovery of the stunt hence it was named after them bt stunt clara gives some solace to vivian
the cure for blue baby syndrome spread like a wildfire
the hospital was flooded with patients dr blaylock and vivian conduct hundreds of operations
doctors from all over the world observes the operation at the white only felicitation
function dr blaylock was felicitated and thanked by many donors of the hospital
dr blaylock acknowledges everybody's contribution but vivian's vivian was attending that function as
a waiter he hoped that at least dr blaylock would appreciate his contribution publicly
knowing that now that was not going to happen the next day he resigns from his job
dr blaylock tries to convince him he says he was not responsible for not allowing the function
he was not responsible for all the racism in the society but vivian was adamant he felt let down
so he finally resigned now vivian starts to work as a medical representative all the black doctors
who knew vivian from the operation try to help him as best they can after some time vivian and clara
visit their parents in nashville harold was also there he won his famous case at the supreme court
after some time vivian says to clara that his mind is still in that lab of dr blaylock
his life work is there in that lab so he has decided to get that old job back vivian says
sorry to dr blaylock and gets his old job back the story of the film jumps 20 years forward
the year was 1964 and the civil rights movement was at its peak
dr martin luther king jr was conducting mass protests against racism in america racism was
slowly and steadily going away from all the public places at johns hopkins vivian was now allowed to
enter the hospital from the front door vivian was now made in charge of all the labs at the hospital
he was the director of the laboratory his job was to teach surgery to young trainee doctors
one day dr blaylock now critical in health visits vivian and says sorry for not firmly
supporting him in all those years dr blaylock never openly said anything about racism
and he felt sorry about that dr blaylock's portrait was now in the hall of fame
after some day dr blaylock dies in 1976 johns hopkins university gives doctor of
law an honorary title to vivian vivian worked as a lab instructor for 37 years at johns hopkins
at his retirement dr helen dr longmore dr cooley and all the board members of
the hospital arrange a felicitation function they unravel the portrait of dr vivian thomas
at the hospital this portrait was placed adjacent to dr blaylocks dr vivian thomas died in 1985 he
invented many surgical instruments surgical techniques he overcame social injustice with
willpower this film bagged a lot of awards and is considered one of the best inspirational movies
so this is the story of something the lord made please tell me your opinion about
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