If the music is distracting you may stop it by
clicking on the square button
If it is too loud you may adjust the volume on the right

Medley of Everly Brothers songs
"Let It Be Me", "Devoted to You"
and "Dream, Dream, Dream"

Best seen with

Notes about this site

Like a rose opening,
this page is a celebration of a life

One day I was chatting with a doctor
who mentioned that he did not believe
in animal research.

The following page is an answer to that.
As Tom's sister, I want it known,
had it not been for animal research,
I would not have remembered this wonderful brother
and my children would never have known their special uncle.

IN MEMORY OF
Thomas Richard Doggett

Beloved Son, Brother, and Uncle
April 1941~~June 1970

I would like to tell you the story of a little boy called
Tommy Dickey Joe

Thomas Richard (Tommy Dickey Joe) Doggett was born April 10, 1941 at Ames, Iowa. He was the third child of Ralph and Ruth (McCoy) Doggett and was the only one of their 4 children born at home.

Dr Ernie McFarland Sr. came to the house to deliver the baby. When he saw this tiny little boy, he decided it was best not to say anything to the mother or father about his condition.

The next day, Ruth noticed that her precious baby had awfully dark skin. His lips were blue and his fingers and toes were clubbed. Being a registered nurse, she recognized there was a serious problem. She gathered up her little bundle and took him to the doctors office.

The doctor told her that Tommy was a Blue Baby. This caused a pain, like that of a sword being thrust into her heart and twisted. She knew that this was a heart defect called tetralogy of Fallot and nothing could be done.

Tetralogy of Fallot (fel low') is a heart defect where, there is a narrowing of the artery leaving the heart. This constriction does not allow the body to get enough blood, so the body calls for more blood. More blood is made. However, because of the narrowing, that blood does not get out of the heart, so the heart steadily increases in size. (After 28 years, Tom's heart almost filled his entire chest cavity) There is also a hole between the chambers inside the heart. This causes some of the blood to be returned directly to the body instead of going to the lungs to be oxygenated. (Oxygenated blood is red, unoxygenated blood is blue.) Because of this, all the blood has a bluish color, hence the name Blue Baby.

The doctor told Ruth just take Tommy home and keep him comfortable for as long as his little heart would beat.

Dr. Ernie McFarland Jr. took over his care, but Sr. was always there as a backup. As tiny and fragile as Tommy was, he was a fighter and would not give up. He grew and grew. Not as fast as others but at least he was alive. He learned to crawl and then walk. However, he could only walk a few feet before he had to sit and catch his breath. But, my, how that little guy could talk. He talked, not only with words, but he had the biggest brown eyes. You could gauge how he was feeling just by looking at his eyes. He also got just about anything he wanted when he used those eyes on you. He was a constant joy to the rest of the family.

Ruth, being a nurse, had to go to work every day. Ralph's sister, Ruby came to stay. She just moved in. Tommy was the delight of her life, and she of his. When she got married, Tommy thought he was going to go and live with her. They remained favorites of each other all Tom's life.

One year--two years--three and four years. His doctor just could not believe that he was still alive. Four years old!! He was a happy little fellow. But he looked like he had just come out of a swimming pool on a cold day. His lips and finger tips remained blue, as well as the clubbing of his toes and fingers. He also was very thin. Any nutrition that he took in went just to keep him alive.

As year five was about to start, Ruth saw an article in a medical magazine about two doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. Their names were Dr Alfred Blalock and Dr Helen Taussig.

Based on a theory developed by Dr Taussig, and with the help of a Surgical Technician, named Vivian Thomas, (called Tom) who assisted with the necessary animal research, Dr Blalock developed a surgical procedure that could possibly keep Tommy alive until more extensive heart surgery could be developed.

This surgery took a healthy artery from an arm and spliced it around the constricted artery to bypass the constriction, thereby giving the lungs sufficient blood for oxygenation. At this stage of heart surgery there was no way to open the heart and repair the hole inside. This operation was the beginning of modern heart surgery.

Ruth sought out both Drs. McFarland and asked them about it. They said they had heard about it but they were not at all optimistic about Tommy's chances. They also told Ruth that they knew it was the only chance he had. The doctor told Ruth, "It sounds like this is a very remarkable development, however, if you go, do not let them just experiment of our Tommy."

The doctor wrote to Johns Hopkins explaining Tommy's current condition and an appointment was made for May.

In 1946, flying (for the ordinary person) was out of the question. Ralph bought train tickets, even though there was an impending railroad strike. He bought tickets for Tom, Ruth, himself and, of course, Aunt Ruby. After taking the other 3 children to the friends that were going to take care of them, off they went.

That is, all went except Aunt Ruby. Her brother-in-law in Nashville, Tennessee died suddenly and she went there first. Then on to Baltimore. The railroad strike caught her when she was almost there, but she continued on by bus.

What Ralph didn't know was that the appointment had been canceled. Tommy had been exposed to measles and Ruth had written to the hospital telling them. They wrote back telling her that, since Tommy had "contracted" measles, they were setting up another appointment in September, 4 months away. She could not believe they had misunderstood her. He did not "have" measles, but had only been exposed.

The letter came the day before they were to leave and Ruth thought, "If this were to come tomorrow, we would already be on the train". She took the letter downstairs and threw it in the furnace.

When they arrived in Baltimore, Ruth and Tommy started settling into a room while Ralph went to the hospital to begin the checking in process. He was very surprised when they told him that the appointment had been rescheduled for September. He was devastated, not only because they would have no money to make the trip again, but he knew that Tommy could not last that long.

Ralph asked if someone could, please, just look at him. Within an hour he was in an examining room and the doctors all agreed that, by September, there would be no Tommy to bring back. They scheduled his admission to the hospital for the next day, with surgery two days later. He was number 143 to have the surgery. (This was how new this surgical procedure was at the time.) The rest of that day was spent taking pictures. Just in case.....

The doctors knew that Tommy was not in very good shape to undergo such extensive surgery, but without it, the rest of his life would be very short indeed. After their examination, they told Ruth and Ralph that he only had about a 40% chance of making it out of surgery.

But those doctors did not know little Tommy. As Ruth and Ralph sat in the hall outside the operating room, word finally came; the operation went well. However, they knew it would be awhile before they would know if it was successful.

The changes that were seen right away were that his fingers and lips were not as blue as they had been. The clubbing of this fingers would take time to go away. People who saw him come into the hospital said they would not have known he was the same child. Within 3 days of surgery the sparkle came back into his eyes. Then, to top off the trauma of major surgery, Tommy managed to pick up a flu bug. It took a few days for him to come out of that, but he did.

In no time at all, he was on his way home. This time to be able to play with his brothers and sister.

This picture of Tom ran on the front page of the Ames Daily Tribune. The tricycle was waiting for him when he got home.

Now that Tom was strong enough to get around, he became his little brother, David's protector. The two of them were best buddies and stayed that way the rest of Tom's life. Tom, no longer Tommy Dickey Joe, loved animals. Here he is with his favorite sister (his only one) and the family dog. Corky. He was always bringing home strays. His favorites were kittens and cats. You can see he was still very thin.

He was a happy young boy who turned into a gentle and loving man. He loved the music of the 50's~~Elvis, Pat Boone, The Everly Brothers, but most of all, Buddy Holly. He had a wonderful deep bass singing voice. His favorite songs were, "Honey", "Peggy Sue" and "You Are My Special Angel". He was devastated by the needless death of Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper.

He had an extensive collection of 45's and was asked to bring them to the Friday night dances. I think he was the original DJ at parties.

Oh, how he could dance! He and I would make the house shake. He was tall, almost 6 feet, had a 26 inch waist but wore size 12 shoes. When those big shoes danced around on the wood floors of the house, you were sure the pictures would fall off the walls.

His mother would look the other way, knowing that at any moment his heart could burst. But she and Ralph had decided, long ago, to let him live for a long as he was alive.

He liked fast cars. He had a Sunbeam convertible and a number of speeding tickets. He made models of cars in his spare time and either gave them away or helped others make their own.

When he was a junior in high school, the school advised Ruth that they did not think Tom had the energy to finish high school. He dropped out, but then got his GED.

He was an artist and completed a correspondence course from the from the University of Chicago in Drafting with a 3.9. He eventually worked as a Draftsman for the State Highway Commission.

But most of all, he was a person who taught us to love. He dearly loved his parents, his Aunt Ruby, cousin Mary Lynn, his Aunt Mae and his brothers and sister. You can tell, he was MY "Special Angel" too.

Tom loved children. He would talk to them and play with them. He put himself on their level when they were little and put them on his level when they were a little older. He had 9 nieces and nephews and adored them all. Each thought they were his favorite. (Of course, I knew, it was me.)

He loved to roller skate and one night at the skating rink he met the "Love of his Life", Jeanette. He fell madly in love and within a year had convinced her to marry him.

The family filled Jeanette in on how serious Tom's condition was, but she felt that her love for him could carry them through any crisis.

No one could know how soon a crisis would come. Within a year of the wedding, Tom became very ill. He was diagnosed as being in cardiac failure. He would be spending the rest of his life in bed.

Or~~maybe there was a chance of open heart surgery.

You see, the surgery back in 1946, had allowed him to live long enough for medical science to, not only come up with a cure for bacterial endocarditis, which Tom had in the 1960's, but also develop open heart surgery and heart transplants.

How could we ever thank those wonderful Drs. Blalock and Tassig. And we must not forget the dogs who sacrificed their lives so these darling babies could have a longer life.

Tom had been followed by the University of Iowa Hospital over the years. When heart transplants were first used, they said that Tom was not strong enough for the surgery. When open heart surgery was first developed, they said Tom was not strong enough for the surgery. Now there was no choice.

It was suggested he go to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota to see what, if anything, could be done. It was Baltimore all over again.

Early in 1969, Tom entered the Mayo Clinic for the tests required to become a candidate for the open heart surgery. This time the holes inside his heart would be closed, making him normal for the first time.

The doctors were pessimistic about his chances of survival, but again, they saw this as the only chance he had. He entered the hospital in March and his heart was opened up. The family waited in the surgical waiting room for hours. There was his wife and mother in law, his mother, father, one brother, and his wife, his favorite sister and her husband. Then there was the ever present, ever loving Aunt Ruby.

Every so often, a nurse would come with news for someone. The nurse would also bring updates as to how the surgery was going. The best news, of course, was "Tom is off the heart-lung machine and his heart is beating on it's own".

It seemed like forever, but we finally got the word that Tom was in the recovery room. We were allowed to go in and see him, two at a time for only 5 minutes, once every hour. His mother and wife were the first. Then as each of us went in, Mom went along. Being a nurse, she accompanied us to be sure that we understood what was happening and what all the tubes and machines were for.

When I went in, that first time, I could see that for the first time in his life, Tom's fingers and lips were a healthy pink.

However, he was not out of the woods. The doctor later told us that he did not think that Tom would come out of the operating room alive. They had found much more damage by 28 years of an ineffective heart, than they had expected. The heart muscle was very, very thin. It had been difficult to attach the needed patches. All they could do was pray and hope for the best. He was in critical condition for 48 hours. Then, as if by magic, he began to show progress.

And the progress continued. Tom left the hospital two weeks later. After a period of convalescence he returned to work.

At his 6 month check up, he was doing so well that the doctor had to double check to make sure it had only been 6 months. Because of the progress he had made, they were sure it had been a year since the surgery. His color was excellent. Even his heart was beginning to reduce in size. If only the Drs .Blalock and Taussig could see him now. They would have known all their work was not in vain.

The real pain that Tom had yet to experience was the day the Jeanette told him she was leaving. She was great when it came to a crisis, but not an ongoing trial. She was the love of his life and he was devastated. He moved back home and seemed to be taking whatever life handed him, but his mother would hear him crying in the night.

The day the divorce was final was nothing compared to the day that he found out his love had married another. He had always thought that she would come back to him.

The next day, he came home from work looking awfully tired. He sat down at the table and ate supper with his mother, father and Aunt Mae. As Mom and Aunt Mae cleared away the dishes, Ralph and Tom continued to sit at the table and talk.

All of a sudden Tom's hands went up. He knocked the sugar bowl over. Ruth looked over and saw that Tom's face was purple. She and Ralph got Tom on the floor and Ruth started CPR. Ralph called the ambulance.

Tom was pronounced Dead On Arrival at the hospital.

We had always said,
"when (not if) Tom goes,
we don't want him to
have pain or be alone."
Our wish was granted.

"Tom~~ We miss you and always will. You will always remain young in our memories and our hearts."

If you do not believe in medical animal research
this Emergency Card is for you.
A Letter for Tom says it all
For those who have lost someone dear
This Child
Links-Credits

Tin's Life
The Author	Travels with Tin	Iowa, My Home	Loess Hills
DeSoto Nat'l Wildlife Refuge	The Snow Geese	A Lesson from the Snow Geese	My Husband
Mother	Daddy - Page 1	Tom	Links and Credits
Emergency Card	For Tom	This Child	The Next Generation
The Grandkids	Tin's Babies Babies Babies

To write to the TinChicken
Click on the chick
Take out the words "No Spam"




MIDI file created by Bryan Hartig
Roses by Mary Garren
Background from AOL Personal Publisher

Read the small print