The SPIRIT of the HEART Stories of Family, Hope, Loss, and Healing by Ismael N. Nuno, M.D.

"I've always been proud of my Latino heritage. I am especially proud that I am Mexican and working in Los Angeles amongst the competition of American and US trained heart surgeons...My Latino patients are especially proud to have a Latino surgeon who will save their life. When I met Jose, he reminded me of my heritage, my roots and my ancestry. He was an embodiment of who I was and where I had come from. My pride in myself and my culture were validated by the struggle this old man had put up to live more. Jose represented my own struggle to survive in a foreign and difficult world."(Cadence Group)