Sebastian Garcia was born with a complex congenital heart disease. Doctors said they couldn't fully repair his heart. Now, he works alongside the cardiologist who treated him.
Garcia was treated at Driscoll Children's Hospital, where he had surgeries as a baby and still checks in with his doctor every year. After graduating from Texas A&M Corpus Christi, he returned to the hospital as a student nursing tech, with the goal of earning his master's in nursing.
His cardiologist, Dr. Eric Purifoy, said Garcia's journey has been anything but ordinary.
"In my time since I've been working with him, he's gone to Texas A&M Corpus Christi and since graduated. He's now returned here and is working as a student nursing tech with the goal of getting his master's in nursing and joining the Driscoll community," Purifoy said.
For Garcia, the work is deeply personal. Having experienced life as a patient himself, he said he understands what the children and their families are going through.
"Being like a former patient myself, right, I kind of just see myself in their shoes. And so, like, I understand what a lot of these children are going through for the most part. But then also not just that, but like how big of an impact it plays on the family as well," Garcia said.
Garcia described being on the other side of that care as a blessing.
"To see like the more the other side of it, right? And so being able to be the individual that's actually going to be helping these children and helping their families is just kind of like a, it's a huge blessing because, you know, at one point that was me who, and my family who needed that help," Garcia said.
Garcia has also run a marathon despite his heart condition — something Purifoy called remarkable.
"I think that's remarkable. So in my practice I have a lot of patients that have a similar underlying disease that he has and I have yet to see anybody really excel physically in the way that he has," Purifoy said.
Garcia said he ran to bring hope to others living with heart conditions.
"To hopefully bring more awareness to anybody that does have a cardiac issue, you know, that there is hope," Garcia said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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