Saturday, August 23, 2008

Two More Examples



I had the privilege of visiting with Dr. Hugh Sealy, MD and his wife Connie for a few minutes on Friday. Dr. Sealy, a 1948 graduate of Duke University Medical School, is a retired well known Cardiologist from Macon, GA.

Dr. Sealy has been a major force in the medical community in Middle Georgia for a lot of years now. He has served as President of the Macon Medical Society, served as Chairman of the Macon-Bibb County Hospital Authority and was Director of the Coronary Unit at the Medical Center of Central Georgia for many years. He and another local cardiologist joined together years ago to found the Georgia Heart Center. Dr. Sealy also served as a clinical professor of medicine at Mercer University.

Not bad for a country boy who grew up in Reynolds, GA, population 1200.

Interestingly Dr. Sealy had an older brother who also was a medical doctor. Dr. Will Camp Sealy graduated from Emory University Medical School in 1936. This Dr. Sealy served his internship at Duke University and completed the surgical residency program and eventually became a thoracic surgeon…and a famous one at that.


Dr. Will Camp Sealy, a true international pioneer in thoracic surgery, was featured in Life Magazine in 1958 performing hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass surgery. He also happens to be credited with developing the field of electrophysiology and is known worldwide as the "father of arrhythmia surgery." In 1968, this Dr. Sealy performed the first pathway ablation for Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome on the “fisherman with a fast pulse,” which has been documented in detail internationally in medical journals.

Again, not bad for a country boy who grew up in Reynolds, GA.

Dr. Will Camp Sealy graduated from Reynolds High School in 1929. Dr. Hugh, who I visited with yesterday, graduated from Reynolds High School in 1942.

A few weeks ago I spoke at the 50th Anniversary Banquet of the Reynolds Kiwanis Club, now known as the Kiwanis Club of Taylor County. I spoke of the incredible success in life of the charter members and their families. The Sealy brothers had already left Reynolds before the Kiwanis Club was chartered so they were not included in my remarks but they are no doubt the most famous brothers who ever came out of Reynolds.

I was born and raised in Reynolds and the older I get the more I realize how fortunate I was to grow up there. I have written about this little town in my book, on this blog and spoken about this little town to thousands across this country.

The Sealy brother’s stories are two more examples of why I plan to continue doing that.

2 comments:

Fishers of Men Life Group said...

I don't know if Dr. David Sealy is related to these famous Sealys, but David is an outstanding faculty member and superb family physician in the Self Regional Healthcare Family Medicine Residency Program in Greenwood, SC. He attended Duke School of Medicine as well and now directs the Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship in Greenwood.

BowlingTrophyWife said...

I just stumbled upon this post - I'm proud to say that our family was intimately/profoundly affected by the work of Dr. Will Camp Sealy. At the age of two, in 1962, I drank from a bottle of lye. Thanks to seven operations at Duke over a period of two years and devoted, compassionate care and surgical brilliance, I am still alive to tell the tale fifty five years later. I remember Dr. Sealy well - and with deep affection. Nancy Klepacki - Asheboro, NC