I was the first patient to have stopped-heart surgery at Cleveland Clinic. When I was older, my parents told me how experimental this was at the time. Without the surgery, I probably wouldn’t have lived.1 

They took out a rib and a half and cut open my breastbone because my heart was enlarged. I have a scar from armpit to armpit. But I’ve never had any more problems with my heart. 

I had the surgery on February 17, 1956. I was 17 months old. I weighed 17 pounds. And they kept me on the heart-lung machine 2 for 17 minutes. 

Years later, I got a letter from Dr. Effler.3 He said 17 must be my lucky number. 

Cleveland Clinic caregivers perform a stopped-heart surgery in 1956.

Cleveland Clinic caregivers perform a stopped-heart surgery in 1956. | Photo: Cleveland State University Michael Schwartz Library Special Collections 

Notes

  1. Beason was born with a ventricular septal defect — i.e., a hole in his heart.
  2. Developed by Willem Kolff, MD, PhD.

  3. Donald Effler, MD, and Laurence Groves, MD, led the groundbreaking surgical team.