Last Monday, my best friend Christina's father, John, had a heart attack. He went to the hospital and was told he needed to have a quadruple bypass. At the age of 77 years old, most people would become fearful, anxious, nervous about the outcome of such a procedure. After all, it is an open-heart operation. Not John. All week, he was actually talking about the fact that he looked forward to getting the surgery done, getting it over with and going on with his life.
I've know John, or as I call him 'Apu', (father in Hungarian), for more than 30 years. He's like a second father to me. Growing up, I remember being fascinated with how incredibly optimistic and positive he was. He was always extremely encouraging towards his children, always telling them they were the best at everything they did. This positive outlook on life has served him well in difficult times.
John was born in Hungary in a wealthy Jewish family in 1934. During Second World War, luckily, his family was spared. At the age of 10, John saw his parents being lined up by German soldiers in the courtyard of his apartment building. They were later on released. But that event was to mark his life forever.
At the age of 13, John's grandmother, who was very superstitious, told him that above his head she saw a star, and that John would be lucky all his life. Since that day, he always believed that he was born lucky... and so he has been.
After the war, John played soccer in the Hungarian Junior National team. He then went on to study Commerce at the University of Budapest. In 1956, when John was 22 years old, Hungary was invaded by Russia. To escape the revolution, John, along with his brother, his best friend and his girlfriend, packed his bags and left Hungary in the middle of the night. They walked through woods filled with Russian soldiers. In the morning, they arrived unharmed in Austria. John would later on cross the Atlantic by boat and immigrate to Montreal, Canada. He later on managed to have his parents come and join him and his brother.
Starting from nothing, John had to work as a taxi driver for several years before finally venturing out in various types of businesses.
In Montreal, he met a lovely Hungarian Jewish girl by the name of Agnes. He later on married her and had two children, Christina and Ted.
John's road to success was not without hurdles. He went through ups and downs, like most people. But he never gave up, always working hard to achieve his goals. He is a truly self-made successful man whose strength, positivity and determination have been a real source of inspiration to me.
Last Monday, John successfully underwent a quadruple bypass. He is still at the hospital, but I'm pretty convinced, that sooner than we think, he'll be back on his feet, doing business as usual.
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