Tag Archives: Fergus Shanahan

Medicine’s pandemonium of paradoxes

May 27, 2022

Fergus Shanahan Dublin, Ireland “Paradox of Medical Progress” graph by author.   “You live and breathe paradox and contradiction, but you can no more see the beauty of them than the fish can see the beauty of the water.” – Michael Frayn (Bohr to Heisenberg), Copenhagen1   The language of medicine is loaded with misnomers, […]

The professor and the playwright on what it means to care

April 16, 2019

Fergus Shanahan Wilton, Cork, Ireland   ALLELUJAH! by Alan Bennett. Credit: Manuel Harlan / ArenaPAL (with permission). Sue Wallace as Hazel; Simon Williams as Ambrose; Rosie Ede as Mrs Earnshaw; Cleo Sylvester as Cora; Julia Foster as Mary; Louis Mahoney as Neville; Patricia England as Mavis; Colin Haigh as Arthur; Gwen Taylor as Lucille; Nicola […]

Support players in the story of an illness – how to behave

April 17, 2017

Fergus Shanahan Ireland   Those who support in silence and support by their presence. Kiran Sandhu,  Feb 24, 2017 One of the poems written by Seamus Heaney after recovering from a stroke was inspired by the well-known biblical story in which a sick man is miraculously cured. However, the Nobel laureate was drawn neither to the […]

The unloved gut

March 4, 2017

Fergus Shanahan Ireland   “My brain, it’s my second favorite organ” pronounced Woody Allen.1 For many, it is the seat of the soul, the source of creativity and much more, whereas the heart represents passion, courage, and character. Fondness for other organs relates to warmth and honesty in the eyes, clarity in the skin, beauty […]

The unloved gut

February 28, 2017

Fergus Shanahan Cork, Ireland   “My brain, it’s my second favorite organ” pronounced Woody Allen.1 For many, it is the seat of the soul, the source of creativity and much more, whereas the heart represents passion, courage, and character. Fondness for other organs relates to warmth and honesty in the eyes, clarity in the skin, […]

Waiting

January 27, 2017

Fergus Shanahan Ireland Death in the Sickroom, 1895 Edvard Munch Oil on canvas Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo, Norway   “Nothing happens. Nobody comes, nobody goes. It’s awful.” ― Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot1 Waiting. It’s an inescapable part of the human condition, perhaps, but it is a big part of the experience of illness. Being ill is […]