Dr. Manuel Jorge Esperanca was born in the parish of Paialvo, County of Tomar, and District of Santarem, Portugal on March 29, 1927.
His parents wanted him to be a teacher, just like his sister. Following in his sister footsteps he studied hard and became a teacher in just two years.
He knew that his calling was to be a doctor. He enrolled in the Faculty of Medicine, at the University of Lisbon in 1949 and taught school at the same time to support himself. He finally graduated in 1956 after being ill with Tuberculosis. He then opened his first practice in Setubal, Portugal.
From there he immigrated to the United States so that he can specialize in Pediatrics, where he stayed from 1958 to 1961. He decide to move to New York State where he did his internship at Our Lady of Victory Hospital in Lackawanna and then his residence at the Buffalo Children’s Hospital. During his stay in the US, he made many friends to whom he considered family and kept in touch till this day.
His next adventure was a move to Vancouver, Canada. He became the first Portuguese doctor in the country. At the Vancouver General Hospital he specialized in Pediatrics and Nephrology in 1961. And in 1963 he was the first doctor to bring the first dialysis machine to Vancouver General Hospital on a grant from Queen Elizabeth II Foundation. While in Vancouver he co-founded the first Portuguese Club of Vancouver during 1962-63. Till this day, they still have a picture of him on the wall in the club.
He married Grace in 1965 and moved to Toronto where they stayed until 1967 and later had their first daughter, Jennifer on March 1966. From here he took the family and moved to Saskatoon and worked at the University Hospital from 1967 to 1968. He had his son, Timothy in July 1967. He then moved back to Toronto where he opened another practice in April of 1968, where they had twins, Patricia and Peter.
He later moved to Johannesburg, South Africa with his family in 1971 and worked for a brief time at the Transvaal Memorial Hospital for Children. They then decided to move back to Vancouver and be with close to Grace's family. He become a member at St Paul’s Hospital as a Pediatrician in 1973 and was promoted to Head of Pediatrics’ in 1975.
In 1975, my daughter Nicole was only eleven months old and she got so very ill and he saved her life. I shall always owe him and be forever thankful for that.
In the mid 70’s he they decide to move to Sydney, Australia with his family and began to practice medicine there. He enjoyed to travel and learn new cultures and meet new people and then in late 70’s he decide to move back to Ontario with his family and wanted to start building roots for his children.
He was an accomplished author and wrote three books, “Madeira, the Majestic and Mysterious Land”, Surviving In the Wild, A Glance at the Wild Plants and Uses and lastly “The Wonders of Vitamin B12” and numerous medical papers.
He was cherished by his family and friends and fondly thought of in the Portuguese Community in Vancouver , Toronto and Lisboa .
He served for so many decades in the medical field and humanity, his motto was :
“Learn something everyday”. And he certainly did.
A great mind is laid to rest.
