In October of 1972, a Uruguayan Air Force plane carrying a rugby team and their friends and family, crashed in the Andes mountains. Roberto Canessa was a 19 year old, second year medical student at the time. He did all that he could to help the injured and dying. The group was stranded for 79 days in subfreezing weather with no food. In order to survive, the living had to resort to eating the dead. Eventually Roberto and 2 others made a 10 day trek through the Andes, at dangerously low temperatures, in order to get help. Eventually they did meet people who helped them and rescuers were sent to retrieve the other 14 survivors still stranded on the mountain. After this horrific ordeal, Roberto felt it was his calling to become a doctor. He became a pediatric cardiologist, known world wide for his work with newborn heart patients. It is unbelievable to me that anyone could have survived that long in those frigid temperatures. Dr. Roberto Canessa is a shining example of someone who faced unbelievable hardship and came through it stronger and more determined than ever to do good.