BOSTON – The Former president of the Federation of Hellenic American Societies of New England, Miltiadis Athanasopoulos, was saved at the last minute by quintuple bypass open heart surgery.

He told The National Herald during a visit at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston that “as I was driving on Route 93 North I felt indisposed. I changed my route and went directly to Winchester Hospital, in the town of Winchester. The doctors there sensed that something very serious was going on and they sent me by ambulance to Massachusetts General Hospital, where I had comprehensive medical tests. I was told that I had a serious problem with blockages in five arteries and that I needed open heart surgery. They set the surgery for Monday, February 4.”

Athanasopoulos said that “the fact I am alive today I owe to the Greek-American doctor, George Tolis. When he saw me on Friday, February 1 he said to me ‘we can’t wait until Monday’ and he operated on me on Saturday. The quintuple bypass operation lasted six and one half hours. I didn’t feel anything. When I woke up I was asking ‘when am I going to have the surgery?’”

Athanasopoulos also said that “Dr. Tolis is not only a prominent and well known doctor, but above all he is a true and authentic human being,” and he added: “I will be forever grateful to him because he saved my life.”