One night, my friend Malte, were camping in the Amazon region.
有一天,我和我朋友Malte在亚马逊流域露营。
The only thing that would not burn in the fire was a green avocado branch.
我们发现唯一不能被火点燃的东西是绿鳄梨的树枝。
Then came a moment of inspiration. So we used the branch as a mold for our first invention.
这时我们有了一个灵感。我们利用这种枝条设计出了一个器材雏形。
The holes in children's hearts can be closed with it.
它可以修补儿童心脏上的缺损。
A coil is a piece of wire wrapped onto itself.
这是一种螺旋体缠绕的结构。
It maybe doesn't look so fancy to you now, but that was our first successful attempt to create a device for this major problem.
也许对你们而言这并不稀奇,但它却是我们修补心脏的首次成功尝试。
In this video, we can see how a very tiny catheter takes the coil to the heart.
这个视频演示了微型导管将螺旋体植入心脏的过程。
The coil then closes the hole. After that moment of inspiration, there came a very long time of effort developing a prototype.
之后,螺旋体修补了漏洞。经由这一灵感启发,我们通过相当长时间的努力,研发出了一种器材原型。
In vitro and in vivo studies took thousands of hours of work in the lab. The coil, if it works, can save lives.
我们在实验室里进行了上千小时的体外实验及研究。这种螺旋体一旦成功植入,就能挽救生命。
I returned from Germany to Bolivia, thinking that wherever we go, we have the opportunity to make a difference.
我从德国返回波利尼亚,想着无论我们去哪,都有机会实现重大突破。
With my wife and partner, Dr. Alexandra Heath, we started to see patients.
我和我妻子,也是我的合作伙伴,Alexandra Heath博士,一起开始接诊。
After successfully treating patients with our coil, we felt really enthusiastic.
在成功地用螺旋体治愈患者后,我们感到非常激动。