Heart surgeon dedicates career to helping patients no one else can save

Nearly three decades ago, Valluvan Jeevanandam was six months into his first job as a heart surgeon when a critically ill patient pleaded with him: Get me a transplant today, or I am going to die. Determined to meet the deadline, yet without an organ match for the 220-pound man, Jeevanandam did what would become a signature throughout his storied career: He looked for an unorthodox solution. Typically, a heart needs to come from a donor who is within 20% of the patient's body size. In this case, that would mean a donor roughly between 180 and 260 pounds. But that's not what was available. "We found a heart nearby that matched for most requirements but had belonged to an 80-pound child," Jeevanandam said. "So, I asked the cardiologist, 'How fast does a heart grow''" Confident that science and skill were on his side-and with the patient's consent to try-Jeevanandam transplanted the child's heart into the man's body.