Dad Had Success as a Mechanic, But Wanted More — So He Went Back to School and Became a Doctor at 51 (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Family and Cleveland Clinic Photography

“I had always wanted to go into medicine as a child, it’s just that where I grew up, there were a lot of things that were missing for people who want to become doctors," he tells PEOPLE. “There just wasn’t a lot of money around, we grew up in a really poor neighborhood.”

“After I graduated, I decided that I did want to do something in the medical field," he says, adding that one of his professors “really encouraged me to go into medicine.”

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

“My whole life in my automotive career, my training of diagnostics, of repair, of doing complex procedures, of using information, highly advanced electronics,” he says, “all of those things prepared me for medicine.”

“To finally see the culmination of all that work that I had put into and all of those relationships that I had formed…was one of the most memorable times of my life,” he adds.

And no matter what, the father of four and grandfather of one says he makes time for the things that matter, like ballroom dance lessons with his wife.

He also shares some sage advice to those who want to follow in his footsteps and go after their dreams later in life.

source: people.com