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Open Heart Nathan Cannon
While admittedly visceral and gruesome at first glance, this still frame of an openheart double valve replacement surgery at Tenwek Hospital in Bomet, Kenya captures both rawness and grace. Our eyes are simultaneously drawn toward and repelled by the epicenter of this photo, which represents something starkly unnatural: an opened chest, beating heart, plastic tubing, and stainless steel retractors held by delicate, gloved hands. This life-saving procedure is frequently performed in rural Kenya, where many young adults have defective heart valves due to preventable childhood rheumatic fever. Tenwek hosts a resident training program in these procedures and has received international acclaim for their efforts to counter this disease in their community. Picture obtained with patient consent.
—Nathan Cannon is a third year medical student at Penn State College of Medicine from Rochester, NY.—