Whoever says that the medical profession can't tell one end of a guitar from the other clearly hasn't encountered Belfast-based Joe O'Sullivan. By day, he is professor of oncology at Queen's University, and clinical director of Northern Ireland Cancer Centre. By night, he's a guitar strummer and songwriter, and the man behind the album, Take a Deep Breath, which, he says, was inspired by his experiences working with prostate cancer patients.
Up until recently, playing music was “nothing too serious”, and while he isn’t about to give up the day job, the transition from performing in cover bands to writing his own material has taken root. “My first few attempts at song writing would have been internalising,” O’Sullivan admits, “and they were about the usual stuff, really. The first song that made an impact on me became the album’s title track. I’d witnessed a wife comforting her husband, who was dying. They were a young couple who I knew really well, and she was holding his hand, asking him to take a deep breath.”
More songs arrived, and while there was no set plan regarding a theme, he nonetheless realised they were inspired by his experiences at work. At the start of this year, he knew he had enough songs for a bona fide concept album. With his friends, Rossa Brazil, a consultant psychiatrist, and Sarah Williamson, a health services manager, the songs were rehearsed with a view to recording them properly.
O’Sullivan is aware of the perception – and for some, the actuality – of the medical profession disengaging with patients’ discomfort and suffering, but he is mindful of the professional line that needs to be drawn.
“Yes, you can become desensitised, but to a certain extent you have to be able to step back in order to make the right decisions for people. You can’t be caught up in the emotion of a situation all the time, yet I’ve found that I do get caught up, particularly with patients of mine in clinical trials. I see them very often for a long time and I get to know them and their families.
“For me, the songwriting was partly a way of dealing with those emotions for myself. But as the songs evolved, a few in particular really made me think about what was happening in front of me. When you meet somebody who is facing a terminal illness, you learn an awful lot from them, because all the nonsense is immediately cut out. You go straight to the heart of the matter – what is important in life comes down to love and relationships. It has nothing to do with money, how important your job is, or how big your car is. I’ve learned so much from my patients, and some of the songs reflect that idea of appreciating the moment.”
O’Sullivan is shrewd enough to know that the album as an entity is more about whatever money is raised for charity. But perhaps, just as important, is his belief of what the songs will, even peripherally, highlight: there are workers in the healthcare system who respect emotional and physical distress.
Proceeds of sales of Take a Deep Breath (see http://iti.ms/1JugypT) go to Friends of the Cancer Centre, a North-based cancer charity. friendsofthecancercentre.com
