Cultured Views

He would never have asked for such and certainly deserved no less; the pioneering Australian cancer specialist Prof. Chris O’Brien passed away at the age of 57 last week and was accorded the honor of a full State Funeral at Sydney’s St Mary’s Cathedral yesterday.

Dr O’Brien is not only known and treasured by the many people who he looked after as patients, but also for his role in the real-life medical series RPA.  It was a series I often watch and I was shocked to hear that this wonderful man, so dedicated to fighting the scourge that is cancer, had tragically contracted the disease himself. Prof Chris – fondly known as Dr Gorgeous by family and patients alike – was diagnosed with a brain tumour (glioblastoma multi-forme) in 2006.

Prof. Chris played a key role in the research into head and neck cancer and was fundamental in founding the Sydney Head and Neck Cancer Institute in 2002. He treated patients of power and influence and patients who were ordinary and vulnerable – he related to them all in the same way; with humanity, compassion and kindness.

Throughout his battle with an illness that he himself had treated in his own patients he forged ahead with his work to establish a major centre for cancer treatment – the Lifehouse at RPA - when completed in 2012 it will be Australia’s largest cancer care centre. This, as well as the love and friendship he shared with his beloved family, many friends and colleagues, will be his lasting legacy.

We always lose the very people we need to keep…

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3. Are some children born ‘evil’? – yes, but not according to this Professor
4. Jade’s funeral: saying goodbye to the Essex Princess ‘Jade’s Way’
5. Family history – Reid/Reynolds NSW