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The Incredible Story of Melvin Jones, Five Years Old, Who Punctured His Heart with Scissors

Read the incredible story of Melvin Jones, five years old, who punctured his heart with scissors in 1925. Learn how his life was saved by a doctor and let this be a lesson to all children out there. Don't run with scissors!
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Here’s a super crazy story. The boy below is Melvin Jones, five years old, who lived at 210 9th St. NE with his family. At the end of October, 1925, he was playing with his brother and sister when a horrible accident happened. Read more about it below.

This is the story from The Washington Post.

The life of Melvin Jones, 5 years old, son of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Jones, was saved by Dr. Herbert H. Schoenfeld of the Children’s hospital, yesterday, who took two stitches in his heart.

The lad was playing with his brother and sister, Richard and Elizabeth, in the kitchen of their home at 210 Ninth street northeast, while their mother was preparing dinner. With a pair of scissors, Melvin started upstairs to cut paper dolls, followed by his companions. When he stumbled on the stairway, the points of the scissors pierced his side and punctured his heart.

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After the wound had been washed Melvin said he felt sleepy. Hardly had he said this when his lips turned blue and his face darkened. The parents called an ambulance and the lad was take to the Children’s hospital, where an X-ray examination disclosed the puncture of the heart.

Pretty crazy story thus far right? It gets a bit gruesome, but the story does have a happy ending.

October 29, 1925. Washington, D.C. "Melvin Jones, 5, who pierced heart with scissors."
October 29, 1925. Washington, D.C. “Melvin Jones, 5, who pierced heart with scissors.” Source: Shorpy

It was necessary to pull three ribs back to make an opening. The heart was lifted up with forceps and a gash a quarter of an inch long was disclosed. Two stitches were taken in the organ and it was then placed back in its natural position and the ribs put back into place.

Outside the operating room the lad’s father was having 250 cubic centimeters of blood taken from his arm to be transfused into the body of his son.

Dr. Schoenfeld, with the reticence characteristic of his profession, had little to say regarding the operation except that it was unusual.

Let this be a lesson to all children out there. Don’t run with scissors!

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