South Korean Man Returns to Jacksonville 21 Years after Local Heart Surgeons Saved His Life
Reunion with Doctors, Philanthropists, Will Take Place on March 28

Jacksonville, Florida, March 25, 2008 -- Kang Joon Ku, 22, from Chonju, Korea, has been to Jacksonville before. But he doesn't remember his last trip because he was 11 months old and in grave condition.

Then, he was here to have open heart surgery to repair a life-threatening congenital heart condition, transposition of the great arteries, in which the aorta and pulmonary artery are reversed. He also had a ventricular septal defect, which is a hole between the right and left pumping chambers of the heart.

Kang, one of the first beneficiaries of Jacksonville's former Korean Heart Program, is here to thank the city and the people who welcomed him and his mother with open arms in 1986, when they traveled from Korea to the United States for treatment. While he is here, he has volunteered at Habijax, is learning English at Florida Community College Jacksonville, and will be reunited with the doctors who saved his life and philanthropists with the Korean Heart Program on Friday, March 28, at noon.

Kang's first trip to the United States 22 years ago was a very different experience. Escorted by philanthropist Harriet Hodges, an American who brought children with congenital heart conditions from Korea to the U.S. for heart care, Kang arrived in Jacksonville in critical condition. Korean Heart Program founder Hugh Jones was there to greet Hodges, Kang and his mother, Yang Soon, when they got off the plane.

"This little boy was all bundled up in a blanket in his mother's arms," remembers Jones, retired CEO and chairman of Barnett Bank. "I looked at the boy's face and it was totally blue due to lack of oxygen because of his heart condition. In fact, we called him 'Little Boy Blue' because of his appearance. His mother had been told by doctors not to love Joon Ku and not to expect anything from him, not even to buy him clothes, because he would die. She was told to feed him and be kind to him."

Soon after arriving, Kang was evaluated by University of Florida/Jacksonville pediatric cardiologist Robert Miller, MD. On April 21, 1986, the baby boy had a cardiac catheterization procedure with Dr. Miller, followed the next day by open heart surgery with UF/Jacksonville pediatric cardiovascular surgeon Richard Perryman, MD (now with the Children's Hospital of Miami).

Kang was one of 71 children who benefited from the Korean Heart Program, and one of 3,017 brought to the U.S. by Mrs. Hodges, who received the Presidential Volunteer Action Award from the late President Ronald Reagan for her life's work.

Kang and his mother returned to Korea in May 1986, and their lives were changed for the better forever. Jones, who has maintained a 21-year correspondence friendship with Kang and his parents, saw the boy two years later when he was visiting Korea and Kang's mother asked in astonishment, "Did you put a monkey's heart in him because he's all over the place now?"

"She couldn't believe his energy level after the surgery," says Jones.

About six months ago, Jones received an e-mail from Kang himself. "He said, 'Mr. Jones, I now realize that the Jacksonville community saved my life and I wouldn't be here without them.'"

"Since I was a young boy about 10, I wanted to come to the United States and say thank you," says Kang. He arrived on January 1, 2008, and will return to Korea on June 6, 2008, to finish his shipyard degree at Mokpo National Maritime University.

Kang and Jones look forward to the reunion in Jacksonville on March 28 with doctors who treated the boy in 1986. "He was such a miracle child for us," he says. "He wouldn't have survived to age two without the care he received in Jacksonville."