Martin Christie obituary

Martin Christie taken care of injured men and women from Iraq, Bosnia and Yemen in a Saudi Arabian military facility during the 1990s

Our father, Martin Christie, who has died of cancer aged 67, wrote last yr: “I have had an intriguing and fulfilling lifestyle and I have most likely helped quite a few [men and women] along the way. Cannot request for far more than that.”

Martin was a consultant neurosurgeon and worked in some of the most remote and demanding places in the planet, from Papua New Guinea to the island republic of Kiribati. In the course of the 1990s, he treated the war-wounded from Iraq, Bosnia and Yemen in a Saudi Arabian military facility. He served numerous excursions as a civilian contractor in Afghanistan from 2007 to 2009 and taught in South Sudan in the chaotic aftermath of its independence.

He did not like to talk considerably about his perform in these places, often preferring to listen rather than bask in any limelight. Even so, vivid fragments stay: a photo of a Polynesian lady with a fishing spear by means of her chest sitting calmly in his waiting area a diary entry about insects landing on a patient’s exposed brain throughout surgical procedure in a tent in Helmand province.

Martin was born and brought up in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), the eldest son of Richard Christie, a attorney and pilot, and the journalist Phillippa Berlyn. He attended boarding school from the age of seven. He located his vocation as a medical professional following a possibility conversation with a family buddy and graduated from University University Rhodesia (now the University of Zimbabwe) in 1971.

Having been known as up for military services, he joined the Rhodesian Army Health-related Corps, but broke his back throughout a coaching parachute jump with the SAS. He lay patiently amid the rocks till discovered by his comrades, then instructed them on how he must be moved. The identical yr, he left Rhodesia for great to travel the globe,

Those who knew him effectively miss his calm and reassuring presence, allied with wonderful kindness and power.

Martin is survived by his wife, Mary Chiarella, 4 youngsters from his first marriage, Nikki, Scott and us, and by 3 grandchildren, Ngaire, Aurora and Skye.

Martin Christie obituary