Memory bank, December 3

Dr. Christiaan Barnard of South Africa performed the first heart transplant (from human donor to human recipient) on December 3, 1967. I remember hearing about it on the news. It shocked me that such a thing could be done. Forty years later, over 2,000 heart transplants are performed annually in the U.S. alone.

Being a surgeon must be amazing work. It would take real courage and nerve on top of training, skill and talent. Don't forget stamina. And, of course, hands. Barnard retired from the practice of surgery because of rheumatoid arthritis.