Customer Reviews

King of Hearts: The True Story of the Maverick Who Pioneered Open Heart Surgery

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As I read this book, I was profoundly moved. I was was born with a ASD & pulmonary valve defect. Dr Richard Varco and Lellehei did my surgery At the Variety Club Heart hospital in 1955 . I was one of the 1st one hundred surgeries done at the U of Minn.What incredable dedication , hard work, these men had. In my early twenties, I again needed heart surgery. This time again a very brillent, dedicated surgeon by the name of U Scott Page did a total correction.I have been able to live a wonderful. active life thanks the The King of Heart and team and Dr Page. I owe my life to the many, many dogs used to perfect progress of open heart surgery. I am a nurse, I have cared for many open heart patients. Thank you Dr Varco, Dr Lillehei and Dr S Page

Dr. Walter Lillehei's last name is atually easy to pronounce. When reading G. Wayne Miller's newest non-fiction thriller, "The King of Hearts," just read his name as 'Lilla - High.' Almost like the name of a high school . . . Lilla High.

But Miller's quest for the truth about 'Lilla High" turns into a reader's quest for the true story about the almost unbelievable account of how heart surgery began on this planet. Most of us remember or have heard about the Dr. Christiaan Barnards's headlining heart transplant in 1967. Maybe the recipient's name - Louis Washkansky- would be a good trivia question on 'Who Want's to be a Millionaire?' or 'Jeopardy.' But it might be better to learn about or remember the name of this maveric medical pioneer by the name of Dr. Walt Lillehei (prounounced like the high school!) who began the heart surgery revolution.

This book is a suspensiful portrait of a fascinating man and his incredible determination, at any cost, to forge ahead where no doctor had before. We take for granted that our relative, friend, neighbor, even ourselves! can now go through a simple open heart surgery procedure and recover gracefully to enjoy a long life. But do you remember history just 30 or 40 years ago when heart disease at any age meant almost instant death? Do you know how many children just died from what we know demand from doctors to routinely fix?

G.Wayne Miller answered so many questions for us through an amazing eight year project which is now titled "King of Hearts." Miller's project has become this 245 pages of reading that one WANTS to read all at once. Filled with suspense, drama, intrigue and the always-present element of actual human life and events that makes for a non-fiction, the reader is torn between what makes this book such a page-turner. Is it because it reads like a literary 'E.R.' or 'Chicago Hope,' or is it the because it is a fascinating medical story of real life with all the suspensful parts? Motivated, almost possessed doctors. Desperate people and parents of dying children. A doctor on an emotional roller coaster who pushed life to its fullest - both personally and professionally.

This is the story of one of life's greatest accomplishments by a pioneer doctor, who like most pioneeers of anything - took great risks, pushed the limit, and believed in breaking the rules. He was the doctor who began what we all now call heart surgery. He was the doctor whose student, Christiaan Barnard, made worldwide headlines by performing a heart transplant - something we now take almost for granted, but what is it really?

Doctor Walt "Lilly High" deserves more than 245 pages of drama and suspense. He dared where no others would - both professionally and personally. But the chances he took, the new opportunity he pioneered for all of us, and the personal life he led gave author Miller more than he needed.

Miller's ability to chronical his eight year study of Walt Lillehei's life into this page-burner that you'll want to reread to catch all those facts again is why I recommend "King of Hearts" to all readers. Whether a thriller reader, non-fiction master, medical fan, or Miller follower, you'll find a great read about trail-blazers who made a real difference in this life.

Enjoy it!

I received a review copy of King of Hearts a few days after my son's last operation for Congenital Heart Defects, and I have to admit, the LAST thing I wanted to read about was open heart surgery! Much to my surprise, I was quickly engaged in this masterfully told story about Dr. Walt Lillehei. I was also struck by the bravery of parents who, by allowing new procedures to be tried on their children, laid the groundwork for the medical advances that keep our loved ones affected by Congenital Heart Defects alive today.

Highly recommended reading for parents, adult patients, medical professionals, and others interested in medical history!

Mr. Miller's style of suspense keeps us reading to see what happens next. He vividly portrays the progress of open heart surgery, step by painful and bloody step. The reader suffers with the parents and doctors with each failed operation on each child, but watching as each technical problem is solved makes everything ok in the end.

The reader learns about various congenital heart diseases of children, the symptoms, the physical descriptions, and the outcomes. Mr. Miller explains the procedures very well so no prior knowledge of surgery, medicine, or heart physiology is required.

My favorite part is the race with the Mayo Clinic to perfect the heart-lung machine. The Mayo Clinic not only loses, but loses almost comically. Another favorite part is how the pace-maker was invented. This story along with the heart-lung machine story make this book worth reading.

If you are interested in medicine, surgery, heart problems, medical history, medical technology, or just want to learn, then you will appreciate "King of Hearts."

When I read the first paragraph of this book, I was engrossed! I started to read it for a report. It gave plenty of information, and was extremely interesting. You feel like you are in the operating room. I affects your emotion. I highly recommend this book!

"King of Hearts" is an engaging adventure into the world of heart repair 50 years ago. Mr. Miller tells the story of Walt Lilihei, one of the pioneers of open-heart surgery, with spirit, accuracy and compassion. He is ever sensitive to both the goals that Dr. Lilihei had and the lives that were lost in the process. Instead of viewing these lives as just statistics, we see how they were people, loved and valued by their families, who had no alternative but to try surgery. Their deaths are respected and honored, as they went before the world knew what it knows now about open-heart surgery. But they were instrumental, as was Dr. Lilihei in teaching the world what it knows now about repairing the heart.

Although some stay away from biographies, "King of Hearts" stands alone. It is a fast-paced, exciting exploration of one man's search to radically alter the surgical options for heart disease. Once one picks up this book, it is difficult to put down. I confess to reading it straight through the moment I received it. The reader wants so very much for Dr. Lilihei to triumph, to find a way to save his patients. And Mr. Miller's style of writing is enough to keep any reader engaged. He writes with energy and with a no-nonsense portrayal of this great man. He skillfully avoids the overtly technical and instead writes for the layman reader, though I have no doubt that those in the medical field will also enjoy reading the story behind the facts they learned about Walt Lilihei.

I am reminded of Grisham and Turow in the reading of this text, yet Miller stands quite by himself as well, marking out an aggressive and fast-paced style of writing which tells both the facts and the emotions but never dips into pathos or excessive sentimentality.

As Mr. Miller points out, Lilihei was essentially as human as any of us. His faults and virtues are both explored in this excellent text. He is in essence the quintessential hero, and his story could easily be taken from the great Greek tragedies. As portrayed by Mr. Miller, Dr. Lilihei is man against nature, sometimes trapped by his own failings, and sometimes triumphant in his earnest attempt to better the human race.

And the fact that Dr. Lilihei succeeded in his efforts makes this book both triumphant and glorious. As with the modern day film "Rocky," one gets to cheer the accomplishments of someone who fought against the odds, while at the same time recognizing that these accomplishments were sometimes overshadowed by a questionable personal life.

"King of Hearts" stands as a contribution to the wonderful texts which tell of the indomitable human spirit, of the need for man to reach out and better man. It is as much a study of human nature as it is a retelling of the field of cardiology in the early days and the frustrations which doctors encountered when they had to let their patients die because no surgical options existed. This book surpasses a mere retelling or biography and instead becomes an example by which other biographies should be judged. In other hands, this subject might be dry and overly technical, but in Miller's telling it comes alive and teaches us all a little bit about ourselves and the human condition. Bravo to G. Wayne Miller for his extraordinary talent and for this extraordinary book!

I found this book by accident, but it was probably some type of divine intervention that led me to it. I was one of Dr. Lillehei's "guinea pigs" - (my mother's phrase), having been operated on for a VSD in January, 1956. Given this personal interest, I found the descriptions of Dr. Lillehei himself, and his research, fascinating. Mr. Miller does a fantastic job of portraying the doctor and his work in a way that is understandable to anyone.

I am extremely grateful to Mr. Miller for providing the world with a glimpse of Dr. Lillehei , who deserves the recognition for his great work, and for providing me with the information to realize how lucky I am to be alive and well.

G. Wayne Miller's prose grabbed me in the prologue and didn't let me loose until the last savory word of the final chapter. Never have I read a work of non-fiction so filled with the human spirit. Mr. Miller's detailed research, carefully and clearly articulated, did not bore the reader with too much extraneous minutiae; rather, his artful phrasing provided a vivid mental view of the intricacies, complexity and very real danger of Walt Lillehei's pioneering medical research and surgical techniques.

We take so much for granted in these days of commonplace medical miracles, and often we forget to pay gracious respect to those who took great risks (and many who paid the ultimate price) in paving the way for today's routine life-saving surgeries. Not only is Dr. Walt Lillehei's entrepreneurial, creative, fearless and at times bullheaded tenacity to be applauded; so, too, are his teachers, courageous mentors such as Dr. Owen Wangensteen, and perhaps most importantly, the parents so desperate to save the lives of their hopelessly heart damaged children.

Yes, many of Lillehei's early patients perished, but how many people are alive today because of lessons learned from these early failures? How many of us recognize the names of Drs. Christiaan Barnard and Michael DeBakey and Denton Cooley? How many of us know the man who laid the foundation for their much celebrated successes with the human heart? Dr. Walt Lillehei was human, and therefore flawed, but his courage and medical brilliance make for captivating reading.

Three cheers to G. Wayne Miller for introducing us to this unheralded hero of modern medicine.

This book is a must read for any parent with a child in need of open-heart surgery. My son's defect was repaired at four months of age and this book was a major source of information for my husband and me prior to the surgery, as we sought to learn all we could about the heart and what open-heart surgery entails.

Our pediatric cardiologist read it and loved it! We also gave the book as a gift to our son's heart surgeon. It is a thrilling book and helped us to understand the technicalities of our son's operation, along with giving us the perspective of what "standing on the shoulders of giants" truly means.

The 245 page concise narative rests on prior experience with top-flight surgery and 8 years of interviews and readings laid out in 20 pages of source notes, 11 pages of classified bibliography, 11 about individuals, and 4 pages of acknowledgements. They show how Miller "went much beyornd the scientific achievments to the story of desperate patients and families and their daring doctors," what Miller wanted to be the foundation of his narrative. It is both history and drama.