Farewell, Kate Granger

Tessa, Ben, Henry and I want to formally express our deep sadness at the recent passing of Dr Kate Granger.

There may be many of you who have never heard of her name but will be aware of the profound impact she has had on the culture of medicine and will have in years to come.  As a young doctor she was diagnosed with a rare sarcoma in 2011 and given a life expectancy of just 14 month. She managed to live another five years.

She was shocked at how the doctor who had delivered the terminal diagnosis had failed to introduce himself, could barely make eye contact and could hardly wait to leave the consulting room. And with this, the #hellomynameis campaign was born.  It reminded us that every patient, every person we interact with in a health care setting is a person first and a patient second. Kate remided us of the power of human connection, most easily forged by a caring smile and introducing ourselves with the phrase, “Hello, my name is….”.  In the days before her death Kate achieved one of 250,000 pounds for cancer charities.

In her too short life Dr Kate Granger has truly made a difference, something that we should all aspire to do.

Kate passed away, surrounded by loved ones, on July 23rd 2016, aged 34.