Juan Leon-Wyss, MD--January 2024
juan
Maria and I met Dr. Juan Leon-Wyss in Guatemala City in the early 2000s. We traveled there to see if we could set up a conduit to operate Haitian kids with heart disease in Guatemala.
Juan was working under Dr. Aldo Castaneda in a hospital built by Dr. Castaneda. Dr. Castaneda was internationally acclaimed as one of the pioneers of congenital heart disease surgery. We kept in touch with Juan over the years as he moved his young family to the Dominican Republic in 2014 to work as the only pediatric heart surgeon on the island of Hispaniola with a population of 22 million—operating on Dominican and Haitian babies and children.
I visited Juan and his family several times in Santo Domingo and sent him Haitian Hearts patients from Haiti. He was operating at a modern hospital in Santo Domingo called CEDIMAT. The number of sick kids with heart disease at CEDIMAT coming for exams and echocardiograms every day was mind-boggling. And to think that Juan and the CEDIMAT cardiologists were responsible for all of them was overwhelming.
During these trips I told Juan he was performing “historic surgery.” By that, I meant that he was the first trained full-time pediatric heart surgeon in the Dominican Republic and that now, kids no longer needed to die from heart disease. He just shrugged and didn’t say much.
Over the years visiting teams of US pediatric cardiologists and surgeons would come to CEDIMAT and be presented with a myriad of complex pediatric heart patients—both Dominican and Haitians—who the Dominican cardiologists had already worked up. And Juan and the visiting surgeons would operate them over the course of the following week. I believe that the US teams were very impressed with Juan’s brilliance as a surgeon and the beautiful person he was.
Two years ago, Haití Cardiac Alliance and Haitian Hearts sent Juan a very thin 12-year-old Haitian boy named John-John who had end-stage heart disease from rheumatic heart disease. I had cared for him in Haiti and I marvelled how he made it through each day as sick as he was. Juan told me that he operated John-John very soon after he got off the plane because he was “dying quickly.” Thanks to Juan, John-John is alive today and back with his mother in Haiti.
Unfortunately, I have to tell you that Juan died on Thursday morning in Santo Domingo. For the past two years he had lung cancer and underwent multiple treatment regimens.
Last year I visited Juan several times and found him in the hospital at CEDIMAT on one occasion. Now HE was the patient. With severe shortness of breath, he had diagnosed himself with pericardial tamponade with an echocardiogram and he instructed the surgeons exactly where to insert the tube to drain fluid out from around his heart. And even after recovering from that, Juan performed heart surgery during the last year of his life when he was able.
Juan and I used to joke about “his Maria” and “my Maria” since we were both married to Marias. My Maria and I visited Juan and his Maria last year. In fact, we went to Mass with them on a Sunday with Maria, their boys, and Juan’s father who was visiting. Juan was just as intense in church as in the operating room.
Other than the obvious intense pain and suffering for Juan’s family, I expect pain and suffering for many young patients and their families in the DR if access to pediatric heart surgery is not available. Juan was surrounded by very capable Dominican cardiologists, but what happens with the operative cases?
Visiting surgeons will have to come in and operate. Dr. Rodrigo Soto has been filling a large gap for several years and has operated on many Dominican and Haitian kids. I hope that he can continue to do his fine work and be hired full time or that another equally talented surgeon be hired by CEDIMAT to continue the work of Dr. Juan.
—
Please see below and donate if it resonates with you and you are able. Thank you.
Hi, My name is Brinson Camp and I am fundraising to help support the family of my dear friend, and world renowned pediatric cardiac surgeon, Dr. Juan León Wyss. Juan ended his brave and grueling battle with cancer peacefully near his family in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on Thursday morning January 18th, 2024. Juan spent his life dedicated to others and worked tirelessly and relentlessly performing the most complex surgeries in the world to give children born with complex heart defects a second chance at life.
He learned from and worked with some of the brightest and most progressive surgeons in the world including Dr. Aldo Castañeda (pioneer and former Chief at Boston Children's) and Dr. Bill Norwood and played in integral role in establishing the most renowned pediatric heart surgery programs in Central America and the Caribbean. Personally, I have watched many heart surgeons operate and can clearly say Dr. León was the best of the best. He brought a level of care to the Dominican Republic the island has never seen and probably won't see again for a long time. He will be greatly missed by people all over the world.
If pediatric heart surgery was his biggest passion and purpose, his family was clearly his biggest love. In his last years, he shifted his primary focus to his family, his beloved wife Maria José Lau de León and his two incredible boys Juan "Matías" and José "Martín", and to God. His family was his everything and what kept him fighting and is salvation is with God in Heaven.
My prayer for Juan and his family-
Dear God, please use Juan's legacy and example to protect his young family and may we never take our time on this earth for granted. May his boys grow into men remembering the hard work and fearless fight of their extraordinary father and may Maria José find peace in her unwavering support and exemplary toughness. May we all use Juan's life as an example of hard work and willingness to fearlessly fight and overcome the obstacles in our path. May his soul rest in eternal peace and may he be a guardian angel to us all. As long as we live, you will never be forgotten.
John A. Carroll, MD
www.haitianhearts.org
John, I am so sorry for the loss of your friend. ❤️