Russell M. Nelson and the Tricuspid Valve: The Operation Revealed in Prayer (1960)

In the pioneering days of heart surgery, a stake patriarch from southern Utah came to the young cardiac surgeon Russell M. Nelson — decades before his call as President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — asking for an operation to repair two failing heart valves. Extensive evaluation confirmed the problem: one valve could be helped surgically, but the other, a badly dilated tricuspid valve, could not, and surgery was not advised. Repeated visits ended with the same counsel, until in desperation the patriarch spoke with considerable emotion: he had prayed for help and had been directed to Nelson. The Lord would not reveal to him how to repair that second valve, but He could reveal it to Nelson, whose mind was so prepared. If Nelson would operate, the Lord would make it known to him what to do. Moved by the man's great faith, and following a fervent prayer together, Nelson agreed to try. Even as the operation commenced in 1960, his assistant asked what he would do for the leaking valve, and Nelson could only answer, "I do not know." After relieving the obstruction of the first valve, they exposed the second and found it intact but so badly dilated that it could no longer function. While examining it, a message was distinctly impressed upon Nelson's mind: "Reduce the circumference of the ring." Then a picture came vividly to his mind, showing how stitches could be placed — a pleat here and a tuck there — complete with dotted lines where the sutures should go. The repair was completed exactly as diagrammed in his mind; the leak was reduced remarkably; and his assistant exclaimed, "It's a miracle." Nelson answered, "It's an answer to prayer." The patient's recovery was rapid, he lived for many more years, and the impression received on the operating table became a genuine surgical first — tricuspid valve annuloplasty — opening the possibility of surgical help to other patients with similar problems. Nelson took no credit for it, directing praise to the faithful patriarch and to God, who answered their prayers. BYU Studies has since documented the 1960 case as a surgical first in the history of heart surgery.