Faces in the Crowd – The Art in Healing

“ I am a man who loves fun. Have fun in life and if it isn’t fun, make it fun.”

Meet John Graham-Pole

He was born in his parents bed in Devonshire, England in 1942, the youngest of four siblings. After their parents divorce when John was three, he moved to Weston near his maternal grandmother who played an important role in the family’s upbringing. His mother had a Masters Degree in Fine Arts but bowing to the custom of the day, stayed home to raise her children.

He was sent to a private boy’s school at twelve. In the first semester he was summoned home on a pass and taken to the hospital to find his mother in poor health. He found it odd she should give him his birthday present two months ahead of the actual date. The next time he was called home, he learned of his mother’s death. The trauma of his father leaving home and the premature loss of his mother left an indelible mark on the young boy.

Against the odds,  John ended up studying sciences at London University having been schooled in the classics in his high school years. His rugby coach asked him what he wanted to do with his life. “ I want to cure cancer,” was the reply.

He did a stint in medical oncology but the trauma of watching most of his patients die was too much to bear, evoking the memories of his mother’s death from cancer with each one he lost.

Someone suggested pediatrics. John was terrified of sick children but fell for them at first sight. At the age of 34, he became Britain’s first fulltime pediatric oncologist . He and his first wife adopted two children during his five year stint in Glasgow.

But before John could help others heal, he had to do his own healing, to resolve those emotional scars. He says psychologists and social workers were his salvation.

A trip to a conference in the United States changed the trajectory of his life. He ended up spending thirty years of his working career at the University of Florida in Gainesville. He led the establishment of the first pediatric stem cell transplant consortium in the United States.

Spending long hours with sick and dying children, he quickly saw how children sang, danced and made art, even in their darkest hours. He became the driving force behind the University’s Arts in Medicine, which has in the past twenty-five years brought artists of every imaginable stripe into Shand`s hospital to offer comfort, joy and healing. He began clowning as his own art form and can still produce a bag of tricks when called upon.

At one of the many conferences John planned and spoke at, a lady from Antigonish was in attendance. His future wife, Dorothy Lander,  had just gone through the death of her own husband and was interested in the whole idea of healing through art. They were married in 2006 and have since called Antigonish home.

It didn’t take him long to make his presence felt in his new home town. As one of the co-founders of Arts Health Antigonish ( AHA !) and a board member of the Antigonish Heritage Association, he is involved in a myriad of activities, lending his creativity and energy to countless causes.

He includes writing and cooking among his passions.

“ I want to die young at an advanced age,” says John.

Both seem laudable and achievable goals for this amazingly talented “young old” man!