💙 The Woman Who Gave Broken Hearts a Second Chance

In the 1920s, when women were expected to marry rather than study medicine, Helen B. Taussig refused to conform. Rejected by prestigious schools and doubted by her peers, she pressed forward with quiet determination — driven by a singular purpose: to heal hearts.

After earning her medical degree from Johns Hopkins University, Helen helped pioneer the Blalock–Taussig shunt — the first surgical procedure to save “blue babies,” infants born with congenital heart defects that left them gasping for breath and tinted with a bluish hue. Parents watched in awe as their children’s skin turned from blue to pink, and hope was reborn in hospital rooms once filled with despair.

But Helen’s journey was far from easy. As she began to lose her hearing, she didn’t retreat — she adapted. She learned to read lips and feel heartbeats with her fingertips, transforming what others saw as a disability into a powerful diagnostic tool. Her resilience became her signature.

Helen went on to lead the American Heart Association and became the first woman to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom for contributions to medicine — not because she was privileged, but because she was persistent. Her legacy is a reminder that true greatness isn’t about perfection — it’s about a heart that never stops trying.

🩺 And she didn’t stop with blue babies. Helen became a fierce advocate for children’s health, campaigning against the use of thalidomide — a drug that caused birth defects — and helping shape safer medical practices worldwide. Her voice, though soft, changed the course of history.

Today, her story lives on in every child whose heart beats stronger because of her work, in every woman who dares to defy expectations, and in every doctor who chooses compassion over convention. Helen B. Taussig didn’t just mend hearts — she redefined what it means to fight for life.