A woman from Plantation reunited with the father-and-son doctors who helped reconstruct her skull in her battle against brain cancer.
Mariana Gonzalez was diagnosed with the life-threatening illness in 2009. Ever since receiving the diagnosis, every day became a battle in order to be there for the most important person in her life.
“I have my son. My son was born with Down syndrome, and years later he was diagnosed with autism. He is the reason that I want to live,” said Gonzalez.
But Gonzalez wasn’t alone in her fight. The 45-year-old received treatment from a talented team of doctors, including from Dr. Guillermo Pasarin and his son, Dr. Anthony Pasarin.
“I would like to thank them both, father and son,” said Gonzalez.
Guillermo, a neurosurgeon, and Anthony, a general surgeon, worked side by side at HCA Florida Westside Hospital in Plantation to rebuild Gonzalez’s skull, restore her scalp and give her hope.
“I think that doing surgeries in general obviously comes with skill, leadership, but doing those procedures with a family member, somebody that you look up to, somebody that has taught you everything in life, you know, it’s a completely different experience,” said Anthony, “and so, not only are you doing a procedure to treat the patient like you always do, you’re also doing a procedure with your father, and you’re having a different sort of bond that most people probably won’t have in their life.”
Nearly 20 years ago, Anthony walked through the hospital hallways as a teenage volunteer for the first time, learning from his father. Now those dreams have come full circle, becoming a doctor in his own right and working alongside his dad on a life-changing procedure.
“Developing a plan on how we’re going to reconstruct the scalp with my plastic surgeon attending, Dr. Weiss, and some of his partners, and then, after doing the procedure with them and with my father, I was able to help keep up with the post-operative management as well,” said Anthony.
“At that point, we decided to involve my son Anthony and the plastic surgery team, which is what he’s training for, to get involved, and I would go in and clean and remove everything that was nonviable,” said Guillermo, “and then we called his team in to rebuild and reconstruct, you know, with skin flaps and everything so that we would prevent her from having an infection.”
For Gonzalez, her scars tell the story of a survivor. For her medical team, it’s also a story about love, resilience and life.
“She is one of the ones who have beaten the odds, for sure,” said Guillermo.
As for the surgical family affair, they hope this is just the beginning of their work together to help more patients live to share their stories of survival.
“Hopefully we may have another intervention together, potentially before he retires,” said Anthony.
Gonzalez is still undergoing treatment but is doing better.
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