Tributes to cancer surgeon Christopher O'Brien, dead at 57

Cancer specialist Christopher O'Brien is being remembered as a gifted clinician and someone who could reach out to his patients in their darkest days.
Professor O'Brien died at Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital overnight, losing his three-year battle with brain cancer.
Fellow surgeon Charlie Teo, who operated on Professor O'Brien several times for his cancer, said his colleague's death was "too depressing to really describe in words".
"I think Chris, to many people, epitomised what a doctor ought to be like, and he was a great gold standard by which doctors judge themselves," Dr Teo told ABC radio.
"It's just a huge loss for not only medicine but for Australia."
Professor O'Brien's demeanour in the face of death had been "so commendable", Dr Teo said.
"People face death in many different ways but he faced it with such dignity and tenacity ... he taught me some great lessons on life.
"He knew that he was fighting a formidable enemy and yet he still remained very positive until the bitter end."
Long-time friend and colleague Michael Boyer praised Professor O'Brien's surgical skills and ability to sincerely reach out to patients.
He said when Professor O'Brien became a patient himself, his courage in facing his illness head-on made him an inspiration for many people throughout the community.
Australia's chief medical officer Jim Bishop, a friend and colleague of Professor O'Brien, was at the launch of Sydney's new Cancer Centre in Sydney in April.
"It was a very emotional event," he told ABC radio this morning.
"It was a dedication to Chris' work over the last three years or so, and his time before that.
"But certainly the work he has put in since he was diagnosed with cancer."
Professor Bishop said Professor O'Brien matched in reality the personality portrayed on the medical television program RPA.
"He was very much like his personality on television," he said.
"He was very engaging and friendly.
"He was very caring (towards) the patients. He treated them with a lot of dignity, respect and was a great listener."
Professor Bishop added that Professor O'Brien's communication skills were invaluable.
"He is very witty (and) cheeky and I think that sort of wink and glint from the eye was also a great aspect that really endeared him to everyone.
"He was a genuine person who was genuine about caring about the person he was talking with, and interested in them.
"I think we need more and more of those in the medical profession, where we can talk to people not as patients but as people with a particular problem we may be able to help them with."
"I think all his patients very much appreciate that."
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was at Professor O'Brien's bedside last night.
At the cancer centre launch in April, Mr Rudd said he considered the former surgeon a "friend" and "inspiration".
"In the two years since I've known Chris, I've come to respect him deeply, to admire him deeply, to love him deeply as a first-class human being," Mr Rudd said.