Determination, Hard Work Paid Off For Local Plastic Surgeon
BY KAREN BERGER— MIRROR REPORTER
When Tom Dalagiannis first arrived in the United States in 1977, he spoke Afrikaans, Greek and Swahili – but not English.
Now the head of the plastic surgery departments at St. Vincent, St. Luke’s and Toledo hospitals, as well as in private practice at Arrowhead Plastic Surgeons in Maumee, Dalagiannis explained to his daughter Madelyn’s peers at Fallen Timbers Middle School how determination and perseverance helped him succeed.
Dalagiannis is the second in a series of speakers hosted by fifth-grade teacher Mike Black in an effort to get students thinking of career and life choices.
“He has quite an interesting story,” Black said of Dalagiannis.
Dalagiannis was born in Corinth, Greece, in 1967, the first child to parents who raised sheep and grew olives.
“Before my parents had me, they were trailblazers. They didn’t want us to grow up in that little house,” he said, pointing to a photo of a small home.
Although his dad only completed a few years of elementary school, and his mother the seventh grade, they left Greece with little money in their pockets and moved to South Africa when Dalagiannis was just 7 months old.
With photos, Dalagiannis pointed to a part of Johannesburg where he lived – just 20 minutes from a Zulu village and even closer to the shantytowns.
He explained that those living in the shantytowns had to have a passport to enter town, or they would be jailed and sometimes beaten.
He showed photos of signs declaring the beach in Durban to be solely for the use of the white race, or bathrooms designated for non-whites.
“Does anyone know the meaning of ‘apartheid?’” Dalagiannis asked the students. No hands were raised.
Apartheid, a social and political policy of racial segregation and discrimination, was enforced by white minority governments in South Africa from 1948 to 1994.
“The great thing about America is that someone like me – not born in America – can come here and be anything I want to be,” he said. “In South Africa, if you were Asian or black or Indian, you didn’t have the same rights.”
Because his parents were concerned about the impact of the apartheid and the protests going on around them, they moved to the small country of Lesotho for six months, then back to Greece for another six months.
Then, during a snowstorm in 1977, the family flew into Cleveland. Never having seen snow, he and his brother dove into the nearest snow bank – only to come up wet, cold and disappointed that it wasn’t cottony like they imagined.
In Lorain, he was initially enrolled into fifth grade, but dropped back to fourth when his limited English made studies difficult.
Because his parents worked long hours to make ends meet, Dalagiannis was responsible for taking care of his siblings – cooking, cleaning and helping them with homework – before working on his own studies.
His mother would wake him up by 5:00 a.m. to practice spelling words, although her pronunciations were difficult to understand.
But Dalagiannis said he was determined to get good grades, and by sixth grade, he was a straight-A student.
After high school, he earned degrees in chemistry and history from Case Western Reserve University and a degree in medicine from Wright State University. 
He trained in general surgery at Fairview Health System in Cleveland; then in plastic surgery. He completed a fellowship in hand and microsurgery at Wayne State University and the Detroit Medical Center and took cosmetic surgery training at the Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital in New York.
“That’s 32 years of school!” one student exclaimed.
“If you want to succeed, you always have to learn – for the rest of your life,” he replied.
As part of his job, Dalagiannis has seen the results of poor choices – teens who copy stunts on TV or chose to drink and drive.
“There are consequences for every action you make. Trailblazers think about the consequences,” he said. “You decide if you smoke or drink or speed when you drive. If you see someone in the hall and you’re mean to them, it may affect them 10 or 15 years from now.”
Dalagiannis encouraged the youth to set high goals and not settle for mediocrity, to learn from their mistakes and the mistakes of others, and to listen to teachers and other adults.
Dalagiannis is active in the community, serving as a commissioner with the Anthony Wayne Youth Football League and on the board of the Anthony Wayne Youth Foundation.
He and his wife Cindy have five children: Nick, Madelyn, Will, Grace and Alex.
Since moving here, he returned to Greece once, for the 2004 Olympics, he said. But he almost got arrested because although he was only 7 months old when he left, his name was in a database as having never served his mandatory military duty.
He still speaks Greek, but has since forgotten Swahili and Afrikaans.