b'Learn, Earn & ReturnThe Mirani StoryDr. Haresh Mirani and his wife, Hana, have spent 46 years together building a legacyone that echoes their own beginnings, yet reaches far beyond their own family to change the lives of people around the world.D r. Miranilikes to say that, in his life, he has goneHe lived in a drug-infested neighborhood in a place without from rags to riches to ruin and, finally, redemption.running water and experienced multiple break-ins. Nothing Born in near poverty in India, he was the oldest childwas ever stolen, however, because there wasnt a thing and the focus of his parents hopes and ambitions for a better life.worth stealing. After the partition of India into two countries in 1947, hisAfter completing his residency in Chattanooga, Tennessee, parents were forced to escape from Sindh and settle in ahe moved to Corryton, on the outskirts of Knoxville, to start refugee camp near Bombay (now Mumbai). Eventually findinga practice in 1984.a home in the Mahim district, his father worked as a financial clerk in the Burmah/Shell Corporation. His fathers drivingBUILDING A PRACTICEforce became the education of his oldest child.Little did I know that in Corryton, I was the only non-white inI was born in poverty but I had Daddy, he says. He believeda 10-mile radius,Dr. Mirani says of the farming communityin me. My daddy decided he was going to make a doctor out ofthat became his new home. It took a year or so for the people me. Everybody in the family thought he had gone mad. But heto see me for who I was instead of what I look like. But, once had a mule-headed determination. they realized that I would be there for them and their loved ones, thats how the trust was built.Everybody in the family thoughtIn the beginning, potential patients often called the office tohe had gone mad. But he had aget better acquainted with this newcomer. Doctor who? Wheres mule-headed determination. he from? Is he married? What church does he go to? Many heard that he was Indian and thought that meant Cherokee. Oh,One of only 600 of 100,000 applicants accepted to medicalhes a ferner, they said, in the time-honored Appalachian way.school, Haresh Mirani began his professional journey, but lost his parents. At 24, he had become a parent to his muchFor the first few months, he says, patients would just comeyounger brother and sister. When he arrived in the Unitedin to meet me, see me, shake my hand, then go back and report States, a Delta employee gave him $40 as reimbursement forto the family that hes okay. People were happy to have a his damaged luggage. I was not exactly broke when I enteredphysician in their community. They just wanted to be sure Ithe United States. My net worth was $40, he says. would be there for them. But once I was able to take care ofthe family, I never had more loyal patients.While waiting for the results of his Medical Reciprocity exams, he became the only M.D. in St. Louis, Missouri, to be living onA good practice grows 10% a year. Within a year my practicefood stamps. He also saw snow for the first time. He survivedhad tripled. He opened satellite offices and eventually for five months on a $1,500 loan from an aunt in Californiaoperated one of the most profitable medical practices in while he finished his exams and prepared to start his residency.the state.7'