Love, loss and legacy: From neurosurgeon to patient, from wife to caregiver I thought you might be interested in this story that was recently posted concerning Gina Gentili, whose husband, Dr. Fred Gentili (a renowned neurosurgeon practicing in Toronto) passed from glioblastoma: https://www.braintumour.ca/stories/love-loss-and-legacy-from-neurosurgeon-to-patient-from-wife-to-caregiver/. Gina speaks a lot about caregiving and shared resources for other caregivers. ..
Family caregivers: A cry for help The Canadian government is being petitioned to provide support for family caregivers, for the reasons and according to the terms and conditions outlined below. Being a family caregiver can be a 24/7 job. The task is daunting, sometimes undoable. In addition to providing benefits and compensation, governments..
Heather: A Gentle Benediction Elegiac Free Verse for Our Palliative Care Volunteer Heather – named for the white bloom* that threads protection through wild hills, good fortune’s quiet blossom, a wish released into the hush of a winter morning. She arrives at our abode gentle as petals, breathing colour into Anne’s world, her soothing laughter..
I was interviewed by Trina Boyko Content Writer for the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada. The title of her article: Caring for Anne: A husband’s journey through glioblastoma Here is how it opens: “From the moment Robert McBryde picks up the phone, there’s a flurry of activity in the background. As one person leaves, another..
The tragically hip and the tragical blip: Anne faces glioblastoma, a fatal cancer of the brain My wife Anne has been stricken by an incurable, highly aggressive form of brain cancer known as glioblastoma: Glioblastoma – Wikipedia Voici un lien en français: https://www.braintumour.ca/fr/types_de_tumeurs_cerebrales/glioblastome/ Her life expectancy is about 12 to..
Childhood Meatloaf and Anne/ Le pain de viande de l’enfance et Anne La version française de cette vignette suit la version anglaise. When I was a child, growing up in Georgetown, Ontario (1955-1964), my parents were struggling financially. One way that my mother devised to economize was to bake meatloaf cut with breadcrumbs. A lot..
The Public Speaking Blues: Childhood and Adolescence in a Performance Anxiety Funk When I was attending Chapel Street elementary school in Georgetown, Ontario, back in the 1960s, public speaking was an integral part of the curriculum in the senior grades. And terror was the order of the day. My public speaking anguish typically..
A story from my book titled My Time with You Has Been Short but Very Funny /Le temps passé avec vous fut bref mais tordant Part One: Bully for you, Georgetown Ontario, 1959-1964 When I was about seven years old and attending Chapel Street Public School in Georgetown, Ontario, I routinely began to throw my..
*Being alone with Dad (Georgetown Ontario, 1955-1964, and beyond) The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated… – a popular misquote of Mark Twain A family is a tyranny ruled over by its sickest member… – a paraphrase of George Bernard Shaw **In the photo, my father is third from the left. This is..
Georgetown, Ontario, 1962, Chapel Street School: Skipping Grade 5…a crippling blow My grade skipping saga began oh so long ago, in 1961, when I was in 4th grade. Back in the day, kids were routinely “skipped” if deemed academically meritorious by some individual or board. This fate was my social undoing. During first term in..