Stan Wisniewski, Chicago, IL – 24 at time of event (1954)

When Stan collapsed onto on the darkened radiology lab floor, cardiology was not yet mainstream, and defibrillators were mains powered. Drugs were revolutionizing medicine and antibiotics were used liberally, but surgery was king. And Stan is still here today because of those three disciplines. If he had had his cardiac arrest fifty years later he might have kept those two ribs and his left nipple. But he is not sorry at all. “Whatever happens, happens. We’ll make the best of it,” Stan says is his motto.