Heart and Vision: The Inspiring Life Story of Dr. Jorge Garcia

By Jorge Garcia

Heart and Vision tells the life story of Dr. Jorge Garcia, renowned as one of the finest heart surgeons in the world. Having achieved outstanding feats and realized his strong vision, the doctor now turns his experiences and expertise into inspirational literature to encourage us to forge our own paths. All we need is heart, and the vision to get us there.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Anvil Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 2, 2017
• ISBN: 9789712730467

Book preview

Heart and Vision

The Inspiring Life Story of

Dr. Jorge Garcia

Heart and Vision

The Inspiring Life Story of Dr. Jorge Garcia

Copyright to this digital edition © 2014 by

Carlos Palanca Foundation, Inc. and Anvil Publishing, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in

any form or by any means without the written permission of the

copyright owners.

Published and exclusively distributed by

ANVIL PUBLISHING, INC.

7th Floor Quad Alpha Centrum Building

125 Pioneer Street, Mandaluyong City

1550 Philippines

Trunk Lines: ([phone], 477-4755 to 57

Sales & Marketing: [e-mail]

Fax: [phone]

www.anvilpublishing.com

Edited and styled by Alfred A. Yuson

Book design by R. Jordan P. Santos (cover) and Joshene Bersales (interior)

Photographs on the cover from AHMC’s Take Excellence to Heart print

ads (front) and Alfred A. Yuson (back)

ISBN 9789712730467 (e-book)

Version 1.0.1

To my wife and children

Contents

Introduction

Let us have this man of sterling accomplishments tell his own story, in his own simple words.

It is an inspiring one. From a small town south of Manila, our exemplary subject moved to the big city to pursue his high school and college education.

He decided—or rather his family decided initially for him—that he would be a doctor. And that he became. Easy-going as he early seemed to be, the young man chose to specialize in surgery.

From his home country, the Philippines, Dr. Jorge Garcia went on to undertake further study and training in the United States.

Years of diligence rewarded him with a reputation that eventually became international—as one of the top-rated heart surgeons in the world.

He did not rest on his laurels. He chose to expand the cardiac care programs he had developed in the United States, and adopt the same in other countries, his homeland in particular.

Dr. Garcia’s impressive success story is an inspiring narrative that can bless any generation, of any country—with its hallmarks of dedication and determination, and an abiding passion for generously exercising the remarkable skill that has established him as a legend in his profession.

Here then is his story, in his own telling—that of a humble man who rose to greatness by dint of hard work, and whose moral authority still emanates from his commanding presence in the operating room.

Saving lives has been his personal devotion.

It is his own strength of heart, and vision, that ultimately enhances his life story as one brimming with inspiration.

Carlos Palanca Foundation, Inc.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to my partners—the surgical assistants, cardiac anesthesiologists, cardiovascular operating room & ICU nurses, perfusionist, cardiac intensivist, nurse practitioners, and cardiologists—who helped and supported me in my 40 years of doing heart surgery in the United States, Philippines, China, and Egypt. Special thanks to Bob Gilbert and Dr. Joseph Barril, together with Dr. Salah Zaki, John Guy, and Dr. Sun Li whose hard work and dedication made my work easier in the operating room. Also, to Mr. Ron Marx whose missionary vision introduced me and my heart team to a world without borders. We had a great time!

I also wish to thank Asian Hospital and Medical Center’s Customer Relations and Marketing Department for supporting the book project.

My heartfelt gratitude goes as well to my friend Carlos Palanca III whose idea it was to produce this book, to his sister Sylvia Palanca Quirino, her daughter Atty. Tintin Quirino-Pacheco, and Rosendo Bautista of the Carlos Palanca Foundation, Inc.

Thank you, too, to Alfred Krip Yuson for listening to my life story and for editing and styling the narrative. And lastly, I am indebted to Karina Bolasco and Anvil Publishing, Inc. for helping make this book possible.

Above all, I thank and praise our Almighty God for blessing me and my family, my associates, my patients, and my friends through the years who altogether make the journey wonderfully possible.

chapter one

Early Years in the Home Country

I was born in Biñan, a town 36 kilometers from Manila, in the nearby southern province of Laguna.

I had the usual childhood—that of a typical Filipino boy, oh so Filipino. I went to public school and went on to a private high school, also in Biñan, before transferring to the Far Eastern University in Manila for high school then college at the University of Santo Tomas.

I was the third child, the only boy in the family, with five sisters.

My father was an agriculturist, while my mother was a housewife, although she was also in the restaurant business. They had a restaurant named Turing’s—for the viajeros or travelers who rode the provincial buses south. It was like a pit stop, but more than just a carinderia. All the food was displayed in an escaparate or glass-covered shelf.

I was still a toddler during the Japanese Occupation. The only thing I remember of that period was that my parents would often carry me to the basement of our house during the air raids, and there were lots of mosquitoes there.

I remember when the GIs came. We were throwing bananas at them and they would throw Wrigley’s chewing gum at us, and some chocolates. And we’d greet them with the victory sign with two fingers and hail them, Victory, Joe!

We used to live in a typically modest Filipino home, with bamboo strips for flooring. The only area with a concrete floor was the kitchen. We used to sleep all together in the sala or living room. We were all born in that house, with my mother assisted by a comadrona or midwife.

When I was big enough, I would walk by myself to school.

As early as grade school, my parents emphasized the importance of education. I’d get punished when I messed up. In those days, the teacher would report how you were doing. And sometimes I would get scolded and punished, particularly by my father.

I would always run to my mother because she was nice and very affectionate. As the only boy, I was very close to my mother. I guess it could be said that I was a Mama’s boy.

After the war, things changed for the better. By 1950, I remember, my father started to do well with his business. He was able to build us a house across the street, on a small lot he had managed to purchase.

By the time we moved to that new house, we were complete as a brood. No one was born there anymore.

That house still stands there! That’s where we basically grew up. We began to have some degree of privacy, with separate bedrooms. I had my own bedroom and my sisters shared two larger rooms.

When we became teen-agers, my sisters started getting invited to parties, and I was always tasked to be the chaperone—first with my elder sisters, then my younger sisters.

I went to Lakeshore High School, where most of the kids in Biñan wound up after grade school. There, I got into a lot of extracurricular activities. I played basketball. I joined a group that participated in Christmas programs. We danced the tinikling, maglalatik, and other folk dances. During summer, I worked with my uncle, selling sago’t gulaman and slices of pineapple and watermelon in the sabungan or cockpit. I also helped my father transport palay or harvested rice grains from the fields to the rice mill.

I was outgoing, and I had lots of friends. I never got into the honor roll, and was always somewhere in the middle of the class.

While I was in third year high, one of my teachers who was related to us told my parents that I was spending too much time with a gang. But at that time, I wasn’t even smoking or drinking.

Because of that, my parents decided to send me off to Manila. It was kind of a turning point. When I was about to complete high school, I told my parents that I wanted to go to the Philippine Military Academy. I dreamed of taking the exam, and if I passed, I’d go on to become a fighter jet pilot. I had seen the Blue Diamonds in an air show, and they awed me.

My mother said, Don’t be like your father. That was because my father was supposed