Fighting the good fight

From Kurmond kid to cancer crusader. Pioneering integrated cancer treatment

. Fred Stephens. Adelaide: Wakefield Press, 2011 (xiii + 177 pp, $29.95). ISBN 9781862549579.

The fascination of an autobiography persists. Can the reader gain insight into the riddle of life by peering into the experience of another? Troubles, tribulations, successes and joys are scattered seemingly randomly across the human journey.

So it is with Fred Stephens’ tale, a gentle, interesting story, almost naively presented in first person, extending from early childhood to an international career as a cancer surgeon.

Stephens’ life spans a period of extraordinary change in Australian life, and those of the appropriate age will find much to engage with. The younger generation, however, are unlikely to believe that such primitive mid 20th-century life ever existed.

The themes which pervade this recital have ongoing relevance to Australian life. Parochialism and nepotism have been a curse on this “lucky” country. The small number of tightly held and isolated medical communities, not excluding Sydney and Melbourne, encouraged dynasties and empire-building. Stephens’ tale accurately documents the impact of these elements on personalities and individual careers. Patients came first with Stephens, but patient-centred health care existed only as a dream.

The final acceptance of the concept of surgical oncology by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons is one of the bright spots.

This book tells of a dedicated surgeon of independent mind doing well for his patients and the discipline of surgical oncology, but perhaps never receiving the recognition his achievements deserved. For those of us in the business and still fighting the good fight this is an enjoyable read, and well known characters pop up regularly through the pages. Fred Stephens was a pioneering spirit and his good heartedness and sometimes confronting personal honesty shines through the book.