Happy Ending

Since she was an eight-year-old schoolgirl in Manhattan, Helen had known that something was seriously wrong with her heart. Doctors had told her to take it easy; there was nothing much they could do about it then. Her trouble was that the by-pass between the aorta and the main artery to the lungs failed to close some time after birth. The open by-pass is vital to the fetus (fetal blood does not get oxygen from the lungs before birth), but it is harmful in later life because it puts an extra strain on the heart.

Last January, Helen, 22, married Robert Zimmerman, a childhood sweetheart. Both knew that she might not live long.

They moved to New Haven, where Bob now goes to the Yale School of Fine Arts. A little thing like a two-block walk tired Helen; Bob had to do most of the housekeeping in their two-room apartment, and he always carried her up stairs.

Last September, Helen went to the New Haven unit of the Grace-New Haven Community Hospital. For some ten years doctors have had a technique for operating on the heart to remedy Helen's condition, patent (open) ductus arteriosus. The operation, usually performed on children, took four hours. The open duct was tied at each end and then cut; the heart was relieved of its extra work.

Two weeks ago the Zimmermans danced together for the first time. Doctors gave Helen more good news: it would be safe now for her to have children. She could also do the housework and walk up stairs. Last week she was so well that her husband felt it was all right to leave her for a few days and go on a hunting trip.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.