| Dr. Walter Cannon became widely known in the | | | | old method involved harsh and painful scrubbing to |
| 1920s as the man who proved to the world how | | | | remove destroyed tissue then spraying the |
| the esophagus works. He also showed us how | | | | burned area with tannic acid to form a protective |
| the body secretes adrenaline during emergency | | | | membrane. The doctors found that the |
| situations, which is what provides athletes with a | | | | membrane forestalled healing and led to infections. |
| second wind. Today, everyone has heard of his | | | | Their method involved covering the wound with |
| "fight or flight theory," also known as the "acute | | | | fine mesh gauze impregnated with petroleum jelly, |
| stress response." | | | | one that is used everywhere today. It is far less |
| Not so well known is the work of his son, Dr. | | | | painful, prevents infections, and aids healing. Their |
| Bradford Cannon, who I had the privilege of | | | | findings came just prior to the Coconut Grove fire |
| interviewing for a book that was published just | | | | of November 28, 1942. |
| prior to his death in 2005. Throughout the war, Dr. | | | | That night, as he was about to sit down to enjoy |
| Cannon served as the U.S. Army's chief of the | | | | a turkey dinner and listen to Holy Cross upset |
| plastic surgical section of Valley Forge General | | | | Boston College at football, Dr. Cannon was called |
| Hospital (VFGH) in Pennsylvania, where he cared | | | | back to Mass General where 114 of the most |
| for war casualties pouring in from Europe and the | | | | severely burned from the fire were rushed. |
| Pacific, and where he performed more than | | | | Seventy-five died within the first few hours of |
| 15,000 operations. He listed the task of rebuilding | | | | arrival. Another 36 of the 232 less injured taken |
| the wounded at VFGH as his most rewarding and | | | | to Boston City Hospital also died, raising the total |
| he remained on the job through the end of the | | | | to 111 dead, a number that would have been far |
| war, until the flow of wounded had subsided. | | | | greater had it not been for the work and |
| After graduating from Harvard Medical School, he | | | | procedures established by doctors Cannon and |
| performed his residency at the Barnes Hospital in | | | | Cope. |
| St. Louis, a major plastic surgery center where he | | | | Besides establishing Mass General's first plastic |
| first met noted doctors Vilray Blair and James | | | | surgery residency, Dr. Bradford Cannon was |
| Barrett Brown. Seven years later he worked as a | | | | Professor of Surgery Emeritus at Harvard Medical |
| surgeon at Mass General's plastic surgery clinic, | | | | and served as well as president of the Boston |
| where he was a protege of the world-famous Dr. | | | | Surgical Society, the New England Society of |
| Varaztad Kazanjian, and where he and Dr. Oliver | | | | Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, and the |
| Cope designed a new treatment for burns. The | | | | American Association of Plastic Surgeons. |