Every Father’s Day brings its own rituals. Some sons gift their dads. Some gather around dining tables. Some revisit old photographs and old memories. For Leon Hamui and his son Johnny, this Father’s Day carried something they never imagined they would share: matching scars across their chests.The father and son from Mexico City underwent open-heart surgeries a year apart. The surgeries were unrelated. Yet both operations were performed by the same surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic. Today, as they prepare for the Sydney Marathon together, those scars have become a reminder of survival, family and the kind of bond that grows stronger after facing fear together. “I love that it’s there,” Johnny says. “It’s a reminder that we got through it. Together.”
15 Jun 2026 | 12:57
Is spending lakhs on a child’s birthday party reasonable or insane?
According to PEOPLE, this Father’s Day is particularly emotional for the Hamui family because it marks the first time father and son are celebrating not just recovery, but a shared journey through serious heart conditions.
A father who always kept moving
Long before hospitals, surgeries and recovery rooms entered his life, Leon Hamui was a passionate athlete. The 64-year-old from Mexico City loved marathons and tennis. Running was not just exercise for him. It was part of his identity. However, nearly two decades ago, something began to feel wrong. Leon started experiencing fainting spells while running. Doctors advised surgery, but he was hesitant. According to PEOPLE, Leon sought a second opinion and eventually travelled to the Cleveland Clinic in 2008. Doctors discovered something different.“He was born with his coronary arteries in the wrong position,” Dr. Eric Roselli, Chief of Adult Cardiac Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic, told PEOPLE. Leon underwent a minimally invasive procedure and returned to his active life.Leon tells PEOPLE, “I had no problems with my heart until about three years ago.” For nearly 15 years, life returned to normal. Then another diagnosis arrived. Doctors discovered that Leon had a bulge in the body’s main artery that can become life-threatening if it tears. In November 2024, Dr. Roselli performed open-heart surgery on Leon. What followed became a family decision.
A marathon promise made beside a hospital bed
Johnny Hamui, Dr. Eric Roselli and Leon Hamui in May 2026 (Photo Credit: PEOPLE)
When Leon underwent surgery, his entire family travelled to Cleveland. His wife, daughters and son Johnny stayed beside him. Johnny still remembers the conversation that changed everything.“The whole family traveled to Cleveland Clinic: my three sisters, my mom and myself. My dad loves marathons and one of my sisters said, ‘You know what? After the surgery, we’re going to run a marathon with you, Dad,’ ” Johnny recalls. For many members of the family, marathons had always seemed impossible. “We’d always been like, ‘No, I’m never doing that. That’s for crazy people.’ But we decided: We’re going to do it as a family.”“I asked Dr. Roselli to please allow me to run or jog just one more marathon in my life,” Leon says. According to PEOPLE, after surgery Dr. Roselli gave him permission to complete one final marathon. The family chose the Sydney Marathon scheduled for August 2026. Within months, Leon returned to running. The family even created a running club called “Corazone de Leon,” meaning “Heart of the Lion.” His wife, daughters, son and their spouses all began training.What nobody knew then was that another medical crisis was already approaching.
A son’s symptoms that seemed harmless
Johnny Hamui was only 36 years old. He was healthy, active and had been a highly ranked junior tennis player. Nothing suggested that his heart was in danger. According to PEOPLE, his symptoms began with something that seemed ordinary: heartburn. Johnny felt dizzy. He even fainted. After that, he visited a gastrointestinal doctor in Mexico City, believing the problem was related to his stomach. “They said it was nothing,” Leon says.Doctors initially suspected dehydration or an infection. But the discomfort continued. A CT scan performed for his stomach unexpectedly revealed fluid around his heart. “The heart was at the top of the image; I wasn’t even there for that,” Johnny told PEOPLE.Further tests, including an echocardiogram and MRI, led to a devastating diagnosis: cardiac angiosarcoma, an extremely rare cancer affecting the heart.“It was catastrophic,” Leon says. “Johnny’s the light of my life. We were extremely extremely scared. It was horrible.” Leon had only recently recovered from his own surgery. Now he was watching his son face a life-threatening illness.
The text message that changed everything
Leon remembered something from his own recovery. The surgeon who had treated him had once shared his personal number. After a family visit to Cleveland, Dr. Roselli had asked Leon to send him a photograph they had taken together. Leon never imagined he would need to contact him again.According to PEOPLE, after Johnny’s diagnosis, Leon reached out to Dr. Roselli and asked where his son should receive treatment. What happened next surprised him. Dr. Roselli was also a specialist in the rare heart cancer Johnny had developed. The doctor asked to see the MRI images. “When he saw them, he said, ‘Bring him over,’ ” Leon recalls. Surgery was scheduled for the following week in Cleveland.For Johnny, who had a four-year-old daughter and a newborn son at home, the diagnosis was frightening. Yet he found comfort in an unexpected place. Having watched his father go through open-heart surgery just a year earlier, he already knew what recovery looked like.“It made all the difference in the world knowing what to expect,” Johnny says.
The second surgery
From left: Dr. Serge Harb, Leon Hamui, Johnny Hamui in December 2025. (Photo Credit: PEOPLE)
In December 2025, exactly one year after operating on Leon, Dr. Roselli performed open-heart surgery on Johnny. The operation was complex. “I basically had to cut out about a quarter of his heart to get the tumor,” Dr. Roselli says. “The tumor was wrapped around one of the main coronary arteries; it had to be rebuilt.”According to PEOPLE, the surgery was successful. “Everything went beautifully,” Dr. Roselli says. For Leon, there is no hesitation when he speaks about the surgeon. “Dr. Roselli, he’s our hero.” Johnny later returned to Mexico and underwent four rounds of chemotherapy over three months.Slowly, recovery began. Today, he says he continues to feel stronger. “I’m feeling great,” Johnny says.“I feel that I’m still on an upward track. I feel like there’s still a few more weeks to go until I feel perfectly normal.” He has returned to playing tennis. Father and son also participated in a race supporting cancer awareness earlier this year. “We haven’t stopped celebrating,” Leon says.
The scars they now share
Leon and Johnny Hamui competing in a race to stop cancer together in Mexico in February 2026. (Photo Credit: PEOPLE)
The father who once worried about his own heart now stood beside his son during his recovery. The son who once watched his father return from surgery now experienced the same journey himself. Their matching scars have become symbols of that shared experience. Leon remains uncomfortable showing his scar. “I don’t show it,” he says. The son Johnny, feels differently. He often leaves his shirts unbuttoned. For him, the scar represents survival. More importantly, it represents connection.The Sydney Marathon now carries a meaning the family never anticipated. It was originally meant to celebrate Leon’s recovery. Today it has become something bigger.“At first, it was to celebrate my recovery,” Leon says. “But now it’s for him. It’s for all of us.” And this Father’s Day, perhaps the most meaningful gift between father and son is not the marathon waiting ahead, or the races they have already completed. It is the quiet understanding that sometimes parents and children save each other in ways no one expects. As Johnny says, looking at the scar that now mirrors his father’s: “I love that it’s there. It’s a reminder that we got through it. Together.”
