On Mar. 26, 1954, Dr. C. Walton Lillehei at the University of Minnesota performed the world’s first open-heart operation using cross-circulation. Dr. C. Walton Lillehei is now known as the “Father of Open-Heart Surgery.”

In that also-historic operation at the University of Minnesota, 13-month-old Gregory Glidden underwent successful repair of a large ventricular defect; his father was temporarily hooked up to take over the pumping and oxygenating functions of his son’s heart.

Sadly, the child died 11 days later of pneumonia, even though his heart defect had been successfully closed. But during the next year, with amazing long-term success, Lillehei and his team used cross-circulation for more than 40 open-heart operations, which included the world’s first surgical repairs of the atrioventricular canal and tetralogy of Fallot.