Gilles LeBlanc and Dr. Bobby Yanagawa, Director of Cardiac Surgery at St. Michael’s Hospital, and the Sure General Contractors Inc. Professorship in Endocarditis
For decades, Gilles LeBlanc lived with one certainty: the path ahead of him had already been written. Growing up, he watched his father, uncles, and aunts all battle a hereditary heart condition—each facing open-heart surgery—and knew the same fate would be his.
“The family curse runs through our veins like a ticking clock,” he says, adding that it wasn't a question of if his heart would fail, but when.
Gilles’ history with St. Michael’s Hospital dates back just as many decades. When he moved to Toronto from Montreal in 1990, his doctor referred him to Dr. Sharon Mintz, a family physician at St. Mike’s. And for years, Gilles’ heart kept ticking strong.
But in 2006, Dr. Mintz referred Gilles to St. Mike’s cardiologist, Dr. Gordon Moe. An angiogram revealed significant blockage in the principal artery of his heart, and Dr. Moe determined that surgery would be too invasive at that time, so they would monitor and wait.
So, Gilles continued his life as a middle school teacher in Toronto.
Until 11:30 p.m. on December 24, 2024, when he placed a call to 911 and was transported to St. Michael's Slaight Family Emergency Department—his heart beating dangerously fast, his lungs full of fluid, and his oxygen levels plummeting.
The emergency team at St. Mike’s fought through the early morning hours to keep him alive before transferring him to the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit. Yet Gilles remembers almost nothing from that night.
“I learned afterward that my care team was simply trying to see if I would survive until the morning,” Gilles recalls.
He did. And when he awoke on Boxing Day, Dr. Sami Alnasser, a cardiologist, was ready to confirm what Gilles had known would be his fate: one artery was almost entirely blocked, two others were just about sealed shut, and a fourth was severely compromised.
Over the next two days, Gilles underwent additional tests with many experts. They all recommended one course of action: open-heart surgery.
That’s when Gilles met Dr. Bobby Yanagawa, a renowned surgeon who leads the Division of Cardiac Surgery and holds the Sure General Contractors Inc. Professorship in Endocarditis at St. Mike’s. Dr. Yanagawa explained the severity of the blockages and confirmed that surgery would proceed the next morning.
Gilles says meeting his heart surgeon was a “fated moment.”
“I always knew that if I was alive until the day before surgery, a surgeon would walk into my room, and they would be the one to save me,” Gilles says. “Dr. Yanagawa was the one.”
Gilles recalls being transported to the operating room, where he saw Dr. Yanagawa standing.
“He was smiling at me,” Gilles recalls. “Just before I drifted off, I remember him saying, 'Let's see how we can help.’”
Dr. Yanagawa performed a quadruple bypass, and after two weeks of intensive monitoring and rehabilitation, he received a pacemaker and defibrillator.
In January 2025, Gilles was discharged, but before leaving the Hospital, he stopped at the nurse's station to thank the staff–and promised to return each year, with gifts.
And he’s honoured this promise. This Thanksgiving, Gilles returned to St. Mike’s with a gift and a letter to Dr. Yanagawa, noting:
“If you ever wonder whether your patients remember you, wonder no longer. I shall never, ever forget what you did for me… You see, Dr. Yanagawa, having been placed under your care has been one of the greatest honours of my life.”
Dr. Bobby Yanagawa's heartfelt response:
"Dear Gilles,
As a surgeon, I am entrusted with the most vulnerable moments in people's lives—when everything they've built can hang in the balance.
I know you have watched your family struggle with the same condition. You’ve lived for decades knowing your moment would come. And when it did, you trusted your team at St. Mike’s—trusted me—to give you a second chance.
That trust is profound. It's what drives me every single day. Surgery is technical, but it's also deeply human. Behind every procedure is a person like you—with a story, a family waiting, a life worth fighting to return to.
Your story is a reminder of why this work matters and proof that what we do in those critical moments makes a big difference. We are honoured to have been part of your journey. Thank you for your trust in us.
Yours sincerely,
Dr. Bobby Yanagawa
Head of Cardiac Surgery
Sure General Contractors Inc. Professorship in Endocarditis"
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