'It Was Everything': One patient's care sparked $16,000 donation to IAHPC
Joe Cross calculated that his exemplary father, Mervyn, had operated on between 22,000 and 25,000 patients in his 40 years as a surgeon. Double that for the number for patients he would have seen. Yet "he still found time to turn up every Saturday at school sport and stand on the sideline... He was there for every important moment of his children and grandchildren’s lives." Photo used with permission.
Earlier this year, a $16,000 donation arrived unexpectedly from an expert orthopedic surgeon and educator in Australia who had little understanding of what palliative care could do until he needed it in his last few weeks.
Dr. Mervyn Cross was a sports medicine pioneer in the treatment of knee injuries, particularly knee surgery and rehabilitation. Thanks to his contributions to the field, many professional athletes were able to keep playing. Before he passed away in 2023 of pulmonary fibrosis, Dr. Cross was cared for at home by Dr. Maria Cigolini, a palliative care expert and IAHPC board member.
"It is very hard to put into words what receiving palliative care meant to myself and my beautiful Dad and our entire family," his daughter Belinda wrote to Dr. Cigolini, "but, quite simply put, palliative care gave us the ultimate gift in ensuring our father passed from this life to the next with dignity and grace and in comfort, with both medical and spiritual support."
'It is a privilege to treat every patient'
Palliative care mirrored Dr. Cross's own treatment of patients. His son Tom, who followed in his father's footsteps into sports medicine and assisted him in operations, said, "To all patients he exuded kindness and confidence. The patients could sense very quickly that they were not only in the presence of a sublime doctor and surgeon, but also that he cared deeply about them. He would often say to me, 'Tom, look at it this way. It is a privilege to treat every single patient. They have chosen you to be their doctor.' "
Dr. Cross asked his family to arrange for the donation, telling Dr. Cigolini that the impact on his comfort was so great that "maybe I should have been a palliative care physician." He said that it showed a humanity of care, she reported, that he hadn't experienced in his own field.
"The extra time that palliative care gave us was EVERYTHING!," wrote Belinda. "It gave us the time to accept, to love, to care, to be there, to say the things we needed to say. Dad was at peace with dying once he met the palliative care team. He knew that his end was near, but he was not frightened."
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Dr. Cross with his family. Photo used with permission.