Heritage Snapshot: Part 213

Leonard L. Bailey, MD (Loma Linda University School of Medicine Class of 1969), former chair of the Department of Surgery, is Distinguished Professor of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery and of Pediatrics, and Surgeon-in-chief of Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital. Dr. Bailey came to Loma Linda in 1965 for the purpose of becoming a heart surgeon and in so doing, not only became a member of the Loma Linda University Overseas Heart Surgery Team, but also a world pioneer in infant heart transplantation. Following graduation from the Loma Linda University School of Medicine in 1969, he entered a residency at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada, Bailey specializing in pediatric cardiac surgery; concentrating his attentions on congenital heart deformities in the very young. The surgeon then dedicated much of his career to finding a solution for hypoplastic left-heart syndrome, a lethal underdevelopment of the left side of the heart, which causes otherwise perfectly formed babies to die shortly after birth. Eventually, he concluded that heart transplantation was their best option. Bailey is best known for transplanting the heart of a baboon into the chest of Baby Fae on October 26, 1984. Subsequently, based on the research surrounding that surgery, Bailey and his colleagues have successfully pioneered human infant heart transplantation. To date, they had transplanted tiny hearts into 334 infants. According to Dr. Bailey, "Few life events on earth exceed the realization of love, the miracle of conception, or the emotion of birthing. Babies are naturally embraced by hope, by reflection of what can be, and by promises to keep; that is, unless the heart within a baby's breast is so poorly developed that life cannot go on. I have been driven by the notion that heart disease should not end the promise of a newborn infant. Heart transplantation restores the hopes and dreams surrounding these babies and, hence, ranks right up there with the best of life events on earth. It is a genuine re-birthing for a baby dying of heart disease, and the process is a very fine moment, indeed, for humanity. It is fundamentally good news, and while it may not necessarily even the score for all the tragedy facing our planet, saving a baby always makes a clear statement for what can and ought to be in the universe. As with the babies and their loved ones, my own life assumes new meaning and affirmation in the process. I am compelled by the belief that saving babies is the right thing to do." In an interview with editors of the Loma Linda University SCOPE (July-September, 1989), Bailey admitted to being "a real patsy when it comes to looking into a baby's eyes and dreaming about the potential for this little person. "We could have continued to let them die, I suppose. We've been doing that for years. However, when we can, we try to save them.... "That we take an interest in babies makes a real statement about us as human beings, about our way of life. We need babies; we need the statement that saving babies makes." Regarding Loma Linda's statistics, Bailey said, "I'm convinced the Almighty has much to do with it. It's almost humanly impossible, given the condition of these babies. These were kids with incurable heart disease in all states of decompensation!” Bailey, with a dream in his heart, pioneered the procedure that captured the fascination of the world, both the scientific community and the public. Over the years, including Bailey, the Heart Team consisted of hundreds of nurses, respiratory therapists, technicians, cardiologists, and surgeons. In 2002, many of them convened in honor the 87th birthday of co-founder Ellsworth Wareham, MD. Dr. Bailey added a spiritual dimension when he said, “…we have had the opportunity as medical professionals…to actually live the talk and live the life that God intended. We’ve all done that. That’s what we’re planted on Earth for. I thank you so much for the time we’ve spent together.”