The Day an Illegal immigrant saved my Moms life.

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billryan
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The Day an Illegal immigrant saved my Moms life.

Post by billryan »

It was Martin Luther King Day in 2005. I was supposed to pick up my Mother for something but she called and canceled. She did this fairly often and I didn't give it much thought.
My sister was an administrator and had the day off so she called my Mom around noon and found out she was still in bed, something she never did. She drove over, took one look at her and hustled her up to Saint Francis Hospital, calling me along the way. I got to the ER just before them and coldn't believe how pale she was. She was having trouble walking so I carried her in and they rushed her in with no triage.
About twenty minutes later, someone came out and told us they were taking her in for angioplasty and it would be a few hours before we would know anything. We told them we would be in the prayer chapel and they said they'd let us know. No more than twenty minutes later, I experienced the scariest moment of my life when the PA paged us to the ER.
The Doctors had decided she needed immediate open-heart surgery and they were trying to line up an ER.
A very young-looking Hispanic Doctor came over and introduced himself. He told us that he had come in to do a procedure but his patient had passed while being prepped. He said he had done thousands of these operations and another doctor chipped in that if his mother needed the operation, Dr. Hernadez would be his choice.
Having no choice, we signed the needed paperwork and went back to the chapel. I asked someone if there was any internet and they sent me to the library where they had a few computers.
I punched in the Doctor's name and was stunned by what I found. Dozens of articles about how he had come to this country as an illegal alien and had performed over 10,000 life-saving surgeries.
His father died years before and his mother left him and his brother with family and went to NY for work.
She had promised to send for them but was never heard from again.
At 16, he and his 18-year-old brother headed north from Columbia, walking, and hitch-hiking their way north for three months. Eventually, they reunited with relatives in Houston who gave them bus fare to NY. Once there, they never found their mother but were taken in by a family from Columbia.
Hernando was 16, spoke no English, and had not gone to school in two years. Eighteen months later, he graduated HS as the Valavictorian and had scholarships to a dozen schools. He graduated from Yale in three years and was accepted into Harvard Medical School where he graduated the top three in his class.
After many obstacles, he was hired by St. Francis and in a half dozen years rose to the ranks of the best surgeons in the NY area. In his spare time, he hosted a Spanish language kids show where he went by the stage name of Doctor Miracle.
Mom came through the operation and although she is now gone, enjoyed nearly a decade more life.
We started a small scholarship fund in Doctor Miracle's name and for the past few years have provided text books to a DACA student who is studying medicine.
DR. H went on to become the chief surgeon at a University Training Hospital and recently began teaching full time. He has written several books about his life, with the proceeds going to helping fund poor medical students.

Tedlark
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Post by Tedlark »

I have two questions:

1 - Is there a holiday named for Martin Luther King Jr's dad too?

2 - I am not familiar with Class Valavictorian, do they rank above or below Class Salutatorian?

Lastly: I believe they are called Teaching Hospitals and not Training Hospitals when they are affiliated with Universities.

Nice story though.

olds442jetaway
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Post by olds442jetaway »

I did enjoy reading the story and am glad you not only shared it, but you had your mom after that. I have a brother in law now retired that was born in Peru. I will skip the detail, but let’s just say his upbringing was less than ideal. He also made his way to this Country and became an excellent greatly respected Surgeon . One Thanksgiving, he was ready for his first bite of Turkey. We had just said grace af the table. The call came. A horrible motorcycle accident. The patient was dying. He was on call. He dropped everything rushed to the hospital at I can only imagine what speed and saved the biker. I don’t want to overshadow your excellent story BR. I just immediately thought of my Bro in law because of Peru being next door to Columbia and the upbringings they both had.

seemoreroyals
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Post by seemoreroyals »

Thank you BR for the inspiring story. Our country is built on immigration both legal and illegal. Positive contributions have been made by immigrants with various shades of skin color from all over the world. They are not all rapists and thugs as some would have you believe.

Tedlark
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Post by Tedlark »

seemoreroyals wrote:
Tue Jan 19, 2021 4:53 am
Thank you BR for the inspiring story. Our country is built on immigration both legal and illegal. Positive contributions have been made by immigrants with various shades of skin color from all over the world. They are not all rapists and thugs as some would have you believe.
But by entering this country illegally, like it or not: they are all criminals.

olds442jetaway
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Post by olds442jetaway »

I have to agree Ted on that point. Doesn’t matter now much, but my brother in law cane here on an H-1 Visa

Eduardo
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Post by Eduardo »

Tedlark wrote:
Tue Jan 19, 2021 11:02 am
But by entering this country illegally, like it or not: they are all criminals.
Life is hard enough when you are a criminal. Now you want to make being a criminal illegal? That's just mean.

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