Posted on 03/15/2003 5:15:55 AM PST by Theodore R.
Story last updated at 1:23 a.m. Saturday, March 15, 2003 Lubbock is trip of a lifetime for patient BY CHARLES L. EHRENFELD AVALANCHE-JOURNAL
José Tercero received a second chance at life, and it came from somewhere he never would have thought to look.
While exercising two years ago, the San Salvador, El Salvador, resident felt his left arm go numb.
"They discovered an aneurysm and a dilated aortic valve," Tercero, 44, recalled Friday. "At that time, it was big enough to warrant surgical repair."
To complicate the matter, when he began searching for a surgeon to perform the life-saving heart surgery, he found them in rather short supply.
"I looked as far as Colombia, Cuba, Guatemala and Costa Rica, which has the best medical facilities in South America," said Tercero, who attended Tulane University on a Fulbright Scholarship and earned a master of law degree there in 1998.
"Some surgeons could do it but did not have the facilities or the team. None could guarantee they could do it with success," Tercero said.
In doing more research about the type of surgery he needed, Tercero, who speaks fluent English, came across the Cleveland Clinic and was convinced he would attempt to get the care he needed there.
That was when a business acquaintance — Lee Stafford of Lubbock — made a call to a friend.
"I called Dr. (Michael) Danchak, who's on Dr. Bricker's surgical team, to see if he knew of anybody at the Cleveland Clinic (José) could see," Stafford said. "That's when Dr. Danchak said, 'We do aneurysm surgery all the time, and we could do the kind of surgery that he needs.' "
Danchak, a Lubbock anesthesiologist, called Lubbock cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Don ald Bricker, who said Tercero should come to the United States as soon as possible.
"The aneurysm was fist-sized," Bricker said. "It was several centimeters beyond the danger point."
Tercero, an international attorney, had only heard of Lub bock through Stafford, whom he met five years ago through a mutual friend while living in Florida.
"I didn't know they had such excellent medical facilities here," Tercero said. "I didn't want to go under the knife with just anybody."
Tercero had been teaching law at Central America Uni versity in El Salvador, and the spring session had just ended. So he had the opportunity to travel for the surgery.
Bricker performed the three-hour surgery on Tercero on Feb. 18 at Covenant Medical Center.
"I've done quite a few of these," he said. "When Mike Dan chak asked me if I could help out, I said, yes. Part of Cov enant's mission is to take care of anybody we can who needs help.
"We resected the aneurysm of his ascending aorta, replaced his leaking aortic valve, and we reimplanted his left and right coronary arteries."
Tercero said he was im pressed by the "professional and human quality" he found in Bricker and Danchak and is grateful for the second chance at life.
"It has changed me in several ways," said Tercero, who plans to leave Sunday to return to El Salvador. "It's like a second chance.
"I know about cases of children who need this same surgery, and I plan to work on their behalf to get them care."
cehrenfeld@lubbockonline.com 766-8796
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