Professor Chris O'Brien

5 June 2009

“It’s hard to believe Chris O'Brien is gone.

“He brought so much hope to others, not just in his career as a surgeon and media personality but in the two and half years he battled his own cancer.

None of us have missed the cruel irony that the insidious disease Chris spent his life fighting ended up claiming that life, cutting short the decades of service he still had to offer.

“A self-described ‘idealist’, Chris O'Brien’s extraordinary legacy will endure in the Lifehouse Sydney Cancer Centre, the first of what will be many purpose-built integrated cancer centres across the nation.

“His legacy will also remain in the hearts and memories of all those whose lives he saved and all those he touched via television, in every part of Australia, who felt close to this man of exceptional wit, empathy and talent.

“Those who claim there are no heroes anymore are wrong. We just lost one.

“Professor Chris O'Brien will be mourned and missed by the people of NSW.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Gail, their children Adam, Juliette and James and their whole network of family and friends who grieve so great a loss today.”