Returning to his roots, this Chenango County-born physician says the road he took to get where he is today had a lot of sharp turns, but never letting go of his dreams led him along the way.
Thomas “Mike” Cruz arrived in Norwich in the early 1970s from the Philippines with his family. Settling on King Street, Cruz said he, along with his parents and four sisters, lived in a small three-bedroom house and oftentimes felt the pinch financially. “It wasn’t always easy. Both of my parents worked, but it was hard,” said Cruz. “Many people think being born into an extended family of doctors meant we too were financially well-off, but that wasn’t the case,” he said.
By age 14, Cruz says his life entered the fast lane. His parents got divorced, and he began to skip school, drink, get into trouble and his grades began to plummet. “I went from A’s and B’s to D’s and F’s. There was a serious problem,” he said. Cruz said although there was a problem, he remembers no one really asked him why.
There was one day in particular that Cruz says he will never forget. He was supposed to leave school early for an outside project. However, the person he was working with called in sick. He decided to go to school anyway. When he arrived, one teacher told him everyone thought he was going to skip but her, because she believed in him.
“I will never forget what she said to me,” he remembers. “You never know what one person may say to you that can change who you are.”
A similar incident happened while Cruz was in high school, when the Norwich City Police had to ‘escort’ him home. “One of the officers said I had an ace in my back pocket and it was time to play it,” he recalls. At first he did not know what that meant, but soon he figured it out and decided to enroll in college and get out the area for a while.
Cruz began his college experience in Buffalo, but due to a financial constraints, decided to switch to Cortland State. “I worked part-time to make ends meet. My entire college career, I waited tables,” he said.
Cruz earned his bachelor’s degree in Cortland and went on to get his master’s in Philadelphia at Temple University.
Ending up in emergency medicine, where he is today, was not the doctor’s original plan. “I was going for psychology and realized then that I wanted to work in the hospital,” he said.
“I wanted to pursue medical school, so I took pre-med as a grad student,” said Cruz. He enrolled at the medical school at Temple and continued to wait tables, serving at over 15 restaurants by the time he graduated with his Ph.D.
He went on to do his residency at Virginia Medical School, where he was trained in emergency medicine. “Being a doctor is a lot like waiting tables,” said Cruz. “Everyone wants something from you, and everyone wants it now.” While in Virginia, Cruz met his fiancee Brianne, who is originally from Kentucky.
Cruz began working at Inova Hospital in Washington D.C., and that is where Chenango Memorial Hospital in Norwich tracked him down.
Exchanging phone calls with the hospital recruiters, Cruz says it took them a while to convince him to come back home. “We were in contact for seven to eight months before I decided to come back,” he said.
“It was time to come home and make a difference in a smaller community. I was sick of the four-hour commute. Here, I have a 15-minute commute, and I can even stop to see the hawks or animals in the field,” said Cruz.
Cruz and Brianne found a house near Hunt’s Pond in New Berlin, an area he says is his favorite place to be. “I can ski right in my back yard,” he said. “We have lots of people come visit. We play music, and I love to fish.”
Knowing there are children in the community who are in the same predicament he was once in, Cruz says he hopes to work with the local school districts to set up a scholarship fund – not necessarily for the highest-ranking student, but for the student who may need an extra push to do something meaningful.
“I would like to set up the scholarship fund, but also possibly mentor the student, build a relationship instead of simply handing them a check,” he said. “My road has been anything but easy. I feel I can relate to students who may be having a rough time.”
Editor’s Note: “Chenango Stories” puts the spotlight on those people whose compelling stories you might not otherwise hear. If you know someone who is interested in telling their “Chenango Story,” contact Jill Kraft at 337-3075 or e-mail: jkraft@evesun.com.