The first successful heart transplant was achieved in 1967, but it would take decades for medical science and skilled practitioners to advance the success of the procedure. One such skilled practioner was Dr. Zbigniew Religa of Poland. Religa dedicated his career to transforming Poland's outdated healthcare system.

A now famous picture Religa captures his exhaustion amidst the tangled aftermath of a 23 hour long heart transplant surgergy (a surgery thought nearly impossible in Poland at the time). 

As one Facebook poster observes:

This image does more than document a surgical milestone; it invites viewers into the intense reality of the operating room, where science and human spirit collide. It speaks to the sacrifices and unyielding commitment behind medical miracles. The photograph became iconic because it revealed not just the triumph of transplant surgery, but the deep exhaustion and hope that fuel such extraordinary moments. It is a timeless tribute to those who dedicate their lives to saving others, often at great personal cost.

The picture captures perfectly the effort, the exhaustion, the skill, and the ability of this pioneering heart surgeon. And the operation was a great success. The patient, Tadeusz Żytkiewicz, lived until 2017 ... 30 years post surgery!

        Dr. Religa, as others both before and after him, have been hailed as medical saviors.

Each winter in Alaska, the common wood frog freezes solid. It quits breathing, and its heart completely stops beating. If you picked one up, it would not move. If you bent one of its legs, it would break off. But when the warm weather returns, its tissues thaw— and it miraculously comes back to life!

The wood frog has even been revived after being frozen for seven months at temperatures dipping as low as three degrees Fahrenheit.

These "frogsicles" can endure multiple freeze-and-thaw cycles in a season because the fluid in their cells contains high levels of glucose, a natural antifreeze also known as cryoprotectant, that lowers the freezing temperature of tissue. Scientists are interested in learning from these frogs in order to increase the shelf life of human organs for transplants by a process known as cryopreservation. Reviving organs after freezing them for a short period would enable them to be shipped around the world and save many more lives.

According to the BJSM: 

"Knee injury accounts for 41% of all sports injuries. One fifth of them involve the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). Other injuries include meniscus tears, posterior cruciate ligament tears, articular cartilage damages and avulsion of ligaments and tendons."

To address that staggering number of knee injuries, it's estimated that there are over 800,000 total knee replacement surgeries performed each year in the U.S. alone (not including the hundreds of thousands of "lesser" knee repair surgeries). 

Post-surgical healing and rehabilitation can take weeks, if not months, to complete. Ultimately, most people see significant improvement. Yet many people report that they are hesitant to use their new knee(s), frearful of trusting it to support them or fearful of re-injuring themselves. For example:

Once I was up early going through my morning routine playing basketball with a friend, when all of a sudden I turned the wrong way, and tore my ACL. After months of rehab, I went out to play light ball just to see if I could do it. I moved around on the court as if I were still injured -- I had not adapted to a healed ACL!

The coach (and my doctors and therapists) told me I could move, but mentally I was afraid to move the leg. subconsciously controlled by my fear of getting injured. I went into protection mode because fear had gripped me.

I was protecting, not realizing or acknowledging that I had a new knee.

We often protect what's been previously injured thinking that it will happen again. I had to ask my self why I was not willing to use the new knee. It's because I had not yet adapted to the new me.