Ordinary/Extraordinary

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A cardiac patient has two hearts beating within his chest, and a man discovers amazing artistic abilities after suffering permanent brain damage in a terrible accident, on ORDINARY/EXTRAORDINARY, the reality-based series hosted by John Schneider and Leanza Cornett, Friday, Aug. 29, (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

All stories in this episode are of ordinary people who have overcome tremendous medical obstacles in their battle for health and happiness.

• Robert Smith of Allentown, Pa., desperately needed a new heart when his own began to fail, but because of his 6’4" tall, 245-pound frame, it would have to be a strong one. The only one available with his rare

blood type was from a teen-age girl who weighed only 130 pounds. Smith made an amazing recovery after doctors performed a "piggyback" transplant, implanting the donor heart to help, but not replace, the original.

• Christopher Wall of Philadelphia was born with his heart outside of his body, a rare condition which nobody

was known to have survived for more than a few weeks. Due to his remarkable spirit, and a team of doctors that wouldn’t give up, he is now 21 years old, despite the fact that his heart, covered only by a thin layer of skin and a protective shield, still remains outside of his chest.

• Pilot Ivan Schlutz was repairing a plane engine when

the whirling propeller blade struck his head, leaving him with permanent brain damage. The accident cost him many ordinary mental skills, but repaid him with an amazing flow of artistic talents. The rural Colorado man knew nothing of art before the accident. Now his sculptures of Native Americans are eagerly sought in art galleries and sell for thousands of dollars.

• Dr. Larry Zachary of Chicago was a brilliant surgeon until a terrible car crash left him with a severe brain injury. While he could not walk or talk and his own doctors thought he would always require 24-hour nursing care, Zachary concentrated on one dream: to again become a surgeon. Through extraordinary will and determination, he returned to his job and was performing delicate

microsurgery within three years of his accident.

• Doctors and nurses at the Fairview University Medical Center are proud of their harmonious bedside manner: they’ve even formed an orchestra to perform for their patients. The Health Sciences Orchestra is the first of its kind in the nation and is dedicated .

to using music to help improve the patients emotionally and physically.