It’s time for some things to change
Paul Beaudry, MD
This message was delivered by Dr. Beaudry as a eulogy for Dr. Warren Yunker, a surgeon who took his own life in November 2022. Dr. Yunker was a respected otolaryngologist at Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary. His wife, Dr. Rebecca Sparkes, is a medical geneticist at the same hospital. Both Dr. Sparkes and Dr. Beaudry have given their permission for this tribute to be published in CJPL in an effort to reduce the shame and stigma around mental illness, disability, chronic pain, and suffering and to promote conversations about these issues — including suicide. It is the wish of Dr. Yunker’s family that we continue to raise awareness and support each other with courage, love, and empathy.
Warren and his wife Rebecca have been part of what we do at Alberta Children’s Hospital for over a decade.
He was highly respected and deeply valued by all of us who were privileged to work with him in pediatric surgery. His passionate advocacy for his patients and their access to excellent surgical care was unwavering.
Even as he was contending with the neurologic disease that shortened his career, for many of us, Warren remained himself: a fiercely intelligent man with clear priorities, an ironic sense of humour, and an unselfish passion for fixing things that need to be better.
Warren’s suffering became unbearable, and now we have lost a friend, a colleague, a husband, a father, a son, a brother.
Today, we are here to remember Warren together and, despite our grief, see the value in the incredible things he has left us.
It’s time for some things to change.
In remembering Warren, I have been reminded of how proud he was to work at Alberta Children’s Hospital, and, in turn, I see how I am the same.
What we do is remarkable and brings tremendous meaning to our lives.
The strength and courage that it takes to care for others, especially these last few years, has been incredible.
Strength and courage.
Warren’s death coupled with the recent loss of another colleague in the department of surgery left me feeling the opposite. Not strong or courageous — but vulnerable.
Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with a grief counselor. I didn’t think I needed the counseling, but she was at Children’s Hospital offering support to those who felt they did, and I wanted to thank her.
What I expected to be a brief conversation turned into a much longer one, and, during that, I realized how much Warren’s decision to end his life mattered to me.
She told me that in five years working as a grief counsellor for health care providers, I was the first physician to spend more than 30 seconds speaking with her.
It’s time for some things to change.
I challenge all of you to look each other in the eye. To be honest with your feelings, to accept vulnerability as a kind of strength. And be the start of that change.
And if we start the change, if just one person finds a way out of the pain and darkness because we did, then that change has been worth it, and it will become another one of the many incredible things Warren has left us with.
Author
Paul Beaudry, MD, is a pediatric general surgeon at Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary, Alberta.
Note: Dr. Warren Yunker’s obituary can be found at https://mhfh.com/tribute/details/38517/Dr-Warren-Yunker/obituary.html#tribute-start