​The Silver Thread

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The Silver Thread is based on the true story of Dr. J Marion Sims, who was a surgical pioneer, considered the father of gynecology.  Today, a heated ethical debate continues about his legacy, as Sims used black female slaves as experimental subjects, much like the famed Tuskegee Experiments. Sims repaired fistula after experimenting on Alabamian slave women, without using anesthesia. It was only after the success of the early experiments on the slaves that Sims attempted the procedure on Caucasian women with fistulas, this time with anesthesia. His technique using silver-wire sutures led to successful repair of a fistula, and this was reported in 1852.

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Telling the story of The Silver Thread  joins the mission of bringing awareness to the masses about Dr. J Marion Sims and his accomplishments, the black slave women who suffered and gave their lives for the sake of advancement, and the poor, young women who still suffer today.

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TODAY more than 500,000 women in the poorest countries still suffer from the childbirth injury of obstetric fistula, and that number grows by an additional 30,000-50,000 every single year. Many women cannot afford to pay for surgery, and even more are unaware that surgery is available that can repair their fistula and end their incontinence. Active across 19 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, The Fistula Foundation provides more fistula surgeries to more women worldwide than any other nonprofit not taking government funding.

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