Is your mother a lacemaker?

“He saw that it was the gaps that were important, the space between the threads that made the pattern…”

Hilary Mantel

Alexis Carrel was born in France in 1873. After training in medicine and then surgery in France, he ended up after WW1 in New York. Most of his time was spent in the labs at the Rockefeller Institute. His research assistant was none other than Charles Lindberg, the transatlantic aviator. In 1912 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work on vascular suturing, and pioneering the concept of organ transplantation. The image above is in his own hand and shows his triangulation technique for vessel anastomosis. Repairing or rejoining blood vessels, rather than just tying them off, was a massive game changer for surgery. Carrel maintained his fine needlework was taught to him by his mother, a master Rhone lacemaker. Michael DeBakey, perhaps the greatest cardiac surgeon, also had a french lacemaker for a mother. Both Carrel and DeBakey ended up controversial figures, but they both knew how to sew. #motherknowsbest #letsmakelemonade