http://www.theprovince.com/health/Doctor+feted+humanity/1805801/story.htmlDoctor feted for his 'humanity'
Cancer specialist, mentor with 'comfortable' bedside manner had love of languages
By Susan Lazaruk, The ProvinceJuly 19, 2009
A well-respected and popular cancer specialist and mentor who had adopted Vancouver as his home for the past 15 years and had a love of languages, especially Spanish, has died.
Dr. Finbarr "Barry" Sheehan, a radiation oncologist who specialized in lung and head and neck cancers, had worked at the B.C. Cancer Agency since 1993. He also trained other young doctors who chose to specialize in the cancer field.
He was always quick to practise his language skills and, on his rounds at the hospital with a new resident, he spoke fluently with one patient in Spanish and another in passable Cantonese, recalled colleague Dr. John Hay.
"This poor resident, she didn't know what to make of it," he said.
"He liked to say that languages were his golf," said Hay. "He had a great love of Spanish culture and often travelled to Spain and South America," as well as Mexico.
Sheehan was remembered by colleagues, students and patients as a knowledgeable professional who knew how to relate to his patients.
"Barry's outstanding integrity and humanity came across to all who met him," said Dr. Tom Keane, a former colleague and close friend who delivered his eulogy.
He called him a great listener and someone who never sought the limelight but "preferred instead to stay in the background, deflecting credit for achievements to others." As director of the residency program for radiation oncology in Vancouver for seven years, Sheehan mentored some 20 junior doctors training to become specialists, for which he won a number of teaching awards, said Keane.
"His office was rarely empty of young doctors seeking his sage advice and his wise counsel," he said.
He was known for his sensitivity, empathy and kindness, living his mantra, "you treat patients with cancer, as against treating cancer," said Keane.
"He took the time to listen to what patients had to say, even if it meant his clinics ran very late in the day." "His bedside manner made you feel so comfortable," said patient Leonard George of North Van- couver.
During follow-up exams, patient Serge Milare of Richmond wrote on an online memorial, he "would be surprised that Dr. Sheehan would remember little details of our previous brief conversations. The compassion he showed his patients was genuine." Sheehan was born in Cork, Ireland, on Aug. 26, 1959, the eldest of six children, three boys and three girls. He attended the nearby Christian Brothers College and was a member of the Boy Scouts and the FCA, the Irish army reserves. He graduated in 1983 in medicine at University College Cork and began his training in Ireland.
He married Joan Geoghegan in 1988 at a Christmas wedding in Galway before moving to Cleveland for an 18-month fellowship, and then Toronto, where he completed his residency in radiation oncology in 1993.
He took a staff position at the B.C. Cancer Centre in August 1993.
In B.C., he and Joan hiked and took ocean-kayaking trips and Sheehan indulged his love of walking while continuing to study Spanish and visit Latin countries.
A 780-kilometre pilgrimage along a 1,000-year-old trail to the Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela, said to be the burial site of the apostle James, made him aware of "a spiritual dimension in the simple acts of daily life," said Keane.
He was an avid reader with an interest in human rights and a passion for justice, which was reflected in his practice and in his many friendships.
"He was quiet and he established rapport with people very quickly," said colleague and friend Dr. Nevin Murray. "In speaking with patients, he was able to empathize with them." He had a wide range of interests and kept up on politics of the world and Ireland.
"He was particularly pleased to have predicted the fall of the Berlin Wall and the ascendancy of Barack Obama to the presidency of the U.S. many years before anyone else," said Keane.
Last Christmas, around his and Joan's 20th wedding anniversary, Sheehan suffered abdominal pain that was diagnosed as inoperable liver cancer.
The clean-living and healthy doctor had no previous hepatitis or other liver disease or damage.
"This came right out of the blue," said Murray.
His background as a radiation oncologist "was a two-edged sword. He knew what was coming because he knew from the very beginning this was not treatable," said Hay.
He received some chemotherapy and radiation but followed the same advice he had dispensed to his terminally ill patients and didn't pursue aggressive medical treatment.
"He took [his diagnosis] with a lot of dignity," said Hay.
He and Joan moved in May to Cork and he was treated at Marymount Hospice, not far from his childhood home, the fields where he played soccer as a child, family and friends and the Catholic church of his youth.
"He got a lot of solace from his church and he thought the church in Ireland had got a bad rap," said Hay. "He said it had helped him and Joan." Sheehan died July 8, less than two months shy of his 50th birthday, at the hospice, with Joan and his siblings by his side. He was buried at St. Oliver's cemetery after a Requiem Mass. The couple had no children.
[email protected]� Copyright (c) The Province
