20 years ago today my father, Dr. Joseph Wanka, died suddenly and unexpectedly. I was only 12. In his honor, I feel his abbreviated story needs to be shared as an example of the adversity that can be overcome by a person, especially for #MedEd . A thread 1/

He was born in the Czech Republic in 1931, to a family that owned and ran a small hotel. He never met his father and was initially raised by his mom. When he was 8, the hotel was seized by the Nazis and his family split up. We saw the hotel on a vacation in the 90s 2/

He went to a great aunt in London, by himself. Her husband resented him and his family and when he said he wanted to go to school, my father was told “you can’t make a silk purse out of a sows ear.” This message could either motivate or cripple someone. 3/

For my father, it motivated him. As a kid he earned money and learned English shining the shoes of soldiers in London. In his teenage years he got a job at a cotton mill and attended school at night, and was able to escape that uncle. 4/

He applied to many colleges, but the only one he was accepted to was in Strasbourg, France. The only problem being, he didn’t speak French. Now that night school was over, he continued working in the mill & hired a tutor to crash-learn French. He went to college 6 months later 5/

After college he returned to the U.K. for medical school at Victoria University in Manchester. He did his internal medicine training in the UK before deciding to pursue a fellowship in cardiology 6/

He decided to come to the US for fellowship as there was a prestige at the time for those physicians who had “been to America” that he thought would land a better job upon return to the U.K. He completed his fellowship at Buffalo General Hospital. 7/

Shortly after completing fellowship his program director suffered an MI and became one of his first patients. Two years later my father was the first director of their new CCU, as previously cardiac patients were just mixed on a regular ICU. 8/

Only problem was, for 10 years it was just him and a single fellow covering the unit. Ultimately this lack of resources caused him to seek other jobs. However one of his closest friends was made at BGH, Dr Thomas Lajos, a CT surgeon he collaborated with. 9/

My father & Dr. Lajos in ‘95

More importantly my father met my mother at BGH while she was working in their angiography lab. They were married in ‘78 and happily married until the day he died. I found this picture of them from shortly after I was born in ‘88 11/

They moved to FL in 78, and my father left academic medicine to start a solo practice at a “new” hospital that was only 3 years old at the time, North Ridge Medical Center in Oakland Park. He worked there until he died 12/

Despite usually working 70-80 hours a week, he would still come home and somehow have the energy to play with my brother and I and show his love for us 13/

Unfortunately, my father loved photography as a hobby. That means while my brother and I have thousands of photos of us and my mom, we have very few photos of my father. He was just always the one behind the camera 14/

My father was known for a few things, practical jokes being one, but also another was being extremely selfless and non-indulgent for himself. He would spoil my brother and my mom and I, but buy the cheapest things on himself. He hated spending money on himself 15/

That’s why we say it was his last joke that he died on a Friday the 13th, a cardiologist dying of cardiac arrest, while at a cardiology convention at the Waldorf Astoria in NY. We half joke it was due to seeing what he’d have to spend on himself 16/

I always knew he was loved by us, but I can never forget the outpouring of support at the funeral and wake. Hundreds of patients, colleagues, staff and friends and neighbors attended. Our family was somewhat shocked, but it helped us through it. 17/

He taught me many things growing up, but among them were compassion to all, integrity, and also humility. Most importantly, help those who need it whenever you can. 18/

The physicians at his hospital in FL had a portrait and memorial commissioned in the lobby of the hospital and the hospital did a memorial scholarship to the local high school in his name. 19/

8 years later the hospital closed and one of the most touching things was one of the physicians seeking out a way to contact us to ensure our family got that portrait and it didn’t disappear. 20/

I could tweet a million anecdotes about him, but the point is if he can be raised in WWII, but himself through college in a foreign country, and survive medical school, you too can survive. It isn’t that your problem is any less serious or less of an impediment, 21/

It’s that you can find a way to overcome it. And when you do overcome it and succeed, remember to give back to others and to love those around you in a way you didn’t get to experience yourself. /End