It was a cruel twist of fate: in November 2006 Chris O′Brien‚ one of the country′s leading head and neck cancer surgeons‚ was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme‚ an aggressive and almost inevitably lethal form of brain cancer. As he knew‚ few sufferers survive past 12 months. Nevertheless‚ he was determined to beat the odds.
With the support of his close family‚ O′Brien took the option of radical brain surgery under the supervision of well−known neurosurgeon Dr Charlie Teo. His health and relative youth − he was 54 when diagnosed − have helped him make the painful transition from doctor to patient‚ and renewed his faith in the importance of an optimistic outlook as the cornerstone of recovery.
Here‚ in his warm and lively memoir‚ Chris O′Brien takes a look back over his life and the forces that have shaped him − from his modest beginnings and early years as a doctor‚ to becoming the popular face of RPA and his crusade for the establishment of cancer centres‚ through to the shocking news that literally changed his life.
Surgeons Writing
Never Say Die
$32.99 – Trade paperback / Harper Collins
It was a cruel twist of fate: in November 2006 Chris O′Brien‚ one of the country′s leading head and neck cancer surgeons‚ was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme‚ an aggressive and almost inevitably lethal form of bra... Buy or find out more →
Life In His Hands: The True Story Of A Neurosurgeon And A Pianist
$32.95 – Trade paperback / Picador
Charlie Teo is one of Australia's most celebrated yet controversial neurosurgeons. His stock in trade is "inoperable" brain tumours - those malignant cancers that others don't dare treat - and by any estimation he is inc... Buy or find out more →
Direct Red
$0.00 – Trade paperback / Jonathan Cape
There have been many books by surgeons but never one like this. The experiences those books describe are perhaps similar to those in Direct Red, but the telling of them is not. As well as being a surgeon, Gabriel Weston ... Buy or find out more →
Making The Cut: A Surgeon's Stories Of Life On The Edge
$19.95 – Paperback book / Heinemann
To be a surgeon is to stand, without flinching, in the sea of human suffering and use one's entire resource of knowledge, skill and intelligence to battle it. An intern makes his first cut and is ridiculed by his tutor. ... Buy or find out more →
My Stroke Of Insight
$22.99 – Paperback book / Hodder Headline
Jill Bolte Taylor was a 37-year-old Harvard-trained and published brain scientist when a blood vessel exploded in her brain. Through the eyes of a curious neuroanatomist, she watched her mind completely deteriorate where... Buy or find out more →
Chris O'Brien
Never Say Die
$32.99 – Trade paperback / Harper Collins
It was a cruel twist of fate: in November 2006 Chris O′Brien‚ one of the country′s leading head and neck cancer surgeons‚ was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme‚ an aggressive and almost inevitably lethal form of bra... Buy or find out more →
Never Say Die (Audio CD)
$49.95 – Compact disc / Louis Braille Audio
It was a cruel twist of fate: in November 2006 Chris O′Brien‚ one of the country′s leading head and neck cancer surgeons‚ was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme‚ an aggressive and almost inevitably lethal form of bra... Buy or find out more →