I've written about heroes before... and my parents will always be the first two people mentioned when building a list of people I consider heroic. I've also praised the military personnel (both past and present) who have put their own lives at risk to protect the citizens and our freedom. Then of course there are people working in law enforcement and the brave souls who fight fires when everyone else is running away from them.
But today's post is dedicated to all of you out there who are in the medical field and are working hard to help all of those in need right now. With all of this free time on my hands... I've been giving a lot of thought to all of the hours you've been putting in and the health risk you're putting yourselves in by helping and treating those who may or may not be contagious. Thank you for that.
Anyways... I went digging into my collection... and found a small subset of medical heroes from the 2009 Topps American Heritage Heroes set. Depending on how close you follow medical history, some of these names may be very common, while others may not. Regardless... each of these people have a fascinating story and I encourage you to take a few minutes to read the summaries Topps wrote on the back of each card:
2009 Topps American Heritage #61 Jonas Salk
2009 Topps American Heritage #62 Charles Drew
2009 Topps American Heritage #63 Mary Edwards Walker
2009 Topps American Heritage #64 Susie Walking Bear Yellowtail
2009 Topps American Heritage #65 Joseph Goldberger
2009 Topps American Heritage #66 Robert Jarvik
2009 Topps American Heritage #67 Charles Mayo
2009 Topps American Heritage #68 Elizabeth Blackwell
2009 Topps American Heritage #69 Norman Shumway
2009 Topps American Heritage #70 Paul Zoll
Before looking at these cards, there was only one person featured in this subset that I could have a five second discussion on... and that would be Jonas Salk. And honestly... I wouldn't be able to say much past the polio vaccine.
I also recognized Robert Jarvik's name... but I couldn't tell you anything about him. I'm not even 100% sure I truly recognized his name. It just seems like it sounds familiar. Maybe I heard his name when my mom was about to have her heart procedure a couple of years ago.
Nevertheless... his name means more now than it did this morning.
Well that's it for today. If any of my readers work in the medical field or have relatives or friends who do, please let them know that their hard work is much appreciated.
Happy Monday and sayonara!
10 comments:
Definitely worry about some family members these days who work in hospitals including my youngest child. I agree here is to all in the field especially first responders.
wonderful post, Fuj! While I am familiar with Salk, Jarvik and Mayo, I knew little or nothing of the others. I have two friends working in the same NC hospital - one in charge of the blood bank, the other the Head RN in the ER. They are both working tirelessly right now.
Hats off to them, unfortunately it looks like those in the medical field around the world are going to have a very difficult time for the next few weeks/months and they really need support.
And stay safe yourself too!
Good post. I’ve never seen this set, as I wasn’t collecting in 2009.
Definite heroes in my mind!!
John Mayo stood out to me immediately. Rochster, MN was only a short drive to where I went for collect (Winona, MN). There are a few other Mayo campuses around Minnesota too.
Those are great cards!
Never saw these cards before. Topps did a good job on them.
Jonas Salk is actually a distant cousin of mine, or so my father and his family have always told me. I do remember the Javrik-7 when it was introduced, and of course I know what the Mayo clinic is, but that's about it.
Timely content from what was a really neat set!
Awesome post!
johnnys trading spot - huge shout out to your youngest. people in the medical field are always vital to our society... but they're definitely being pushed to the limit in these trying times.
acrackedbat - i know nurses already have crazy hours. i can only imagine how much more being thrown onto their plates. kudos to your friends out in nc.
sean - hopefully it's only a few weeks, but the way things sound... it definitely looks like months. all we can hope for is people play their roles to minimize the spread. sounds like japan worked hard to get ahead of things... which is a good example for other countries
the lost colletor - i had just returned to the hobby when this set came out and never actually got my hands on any packs. but i wish i had. it's pretty neat if you're into history.
sumomenkoman - yup. hope you and the family are hanging in there.
base card hero - dang, i'm embarrassed that i don't know who he is. sounds like he's pretty famous.
brett alan - wow that's pretty cool that you're related to salk. as for these cards, topps released another set very similar to this one the same year. i've been trying to get my hands on one for the last decade.
gcrl - that's what happens when you told to stay home and isolate yourself. i've got nothing on my hands but time. sadly... i've spent only an hour or two sorting cards and it happened to be the morning i wrote this post). the rest of the week has been watching youtube, netflix, hulu, and amazon.
matt - thanks matt! hope you and your family are staying safe and healthy.
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