Being Mindful Stories

Story · Ajahn Brahm

The haematologist who made room for kindness

As told by Ajahn Brahm in The Dangers of Fear | Ajahn Brahm | 4 November 2022

2 min read

Content note: unverified health claims (complementary therapies)

The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

I remember just oh one of my heroes in Perth. It's weird having all these different types of heroes. One of them I you know some years ago I got this medal from John Curtain University you know for starting off a really good community here and supporting women. but also that the next year I went to this um medal award for professor Joofi. He was the head of hematology at the time in Charlie Gardner's Hospital. And when I went there when I went there for his awards ceremony cuz I won the the award the year before I was so inspired by him. He was a top doctor had immense sort of uh academic qualifications but you know he noticed something which was wrong in a hospital system and that was that everybody got the best chemotherapy, radiation therapy, surgery. You know what was missing? The kindness and care. I don't know the last time you've been in the hospital, but do actually people spend time talking with you, caring for you? You may be really sick in the bed and holding your hand. Sometimes people afraid to hold the hand. They might get sued or catch something. Oh, for goodness sake. That kindness is one of the best parts of therapies. And anyway, this top doctor, he was the one who decided to put aside his scientific credentials and invite uh he got a few rooms in that hospital and he invited uh invited raiki therapy, homeopath homeopathy, uh acupuncture, anything which he said was weird, which hadn't been scientific. ifically totally 100% proven. You could get there for free, you know, after you'd come out of the hospital and had some radiation therapy or whatever. Even things like reflexology, you know, foot massage. I remember talking to him. And he said the reason he was doing that, you know, at the time there's no real scientific evidence that it was going to help, but just he knew if you went into a hospital and you were just almost like unfortunately people don't have the time to do anything better. Treated a bit like a robot, just a client, not a person. But then in this place afterwards, you could be treated like a person. Somebody was being kind to you, just gave you a foot massage. And that kindness is so important. And that kindness was having a huge effect on the recovery rate of those people. People were caring for them, not just giving them a sort of radiation therapy and then moving on to the next person. They had time for you. And that was really important. It took away their fear. The results were that people got much better results. The healing rates improved and he made that sort of little sacrifice of risking his reputation by doing something which wasn't proven. What happened in the end? So he got a prize for that.

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 21:32 (to 25:17)

A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

A leading haematologist risked his reputation by giving cancer patients rooms where someone had time for them, with gentle therapies alongside proper treatment. Patients felt less afraid, and he was honoured for it. Kindness heals. Do what is right, even if people laugh. Never lock your heart in a concrete box.

In brief (our summary)

The year after Ajahn Brahm received a Curtin University medal, he attended the award for Professor 'Joofi' (as captioned), head of haematology at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. Seeing that patients got the best chemotherapy, radiation and surgery but little kindness or care, this top scientist risked his reputation by setting aside a few rooms where patients could get free, unproven therapies — reiki, acupuncture, reflexology foot massage — simply so that someone would treat them as a person. Recovery rates improved, Ajahn Brahm says, and the professor received the prize for it.

Teaching point

Courage to do what's right despite possible ridicule; kindness takes away fear and helps healing.

When this story may help

  • hospital care
  • illness
  • standing up for what is right

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in The Dangers of Fear | Ajahn Brahm | 4 November 2022 · 2022-11-04 · ▶ watch from 21:32 to 25:17 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

3 other tellings of this story

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions with machine-added punctuation; words left exactly as captioned. 'Charlie Gardner's Hospital' = Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital; 'raiki' = reiki.

The narrative is Ajahn Brahm's own telling, quoted from the talk captions. The summary and reflection are Being Mindful Stories's editorial notes. Please credit the teacher and link the original talk. Markdown version

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