Spalding Gray's widow remembers Oliver Sacks: 'He really cared and he was always curious'
Neurologist and author Oliver Sacks was known for telling the stories of his patient's neurological disorders with compassion and wit.
One of those patients was the late American actor and writer, Spalding Gray. Gray had suffered a brain injury, after a car accident in 2001, that left him deeply depressed. As It Happens guest host Helen Mann spoke with his widow, Kathie Russo.
"There was a nice back-and-forth that they were having as patient and doctor and as two artists interested in each other's work," Russo recalls.
She appreciated Sacks' approach to Gray, saying that "instead of brain damage, he called it an extreme injury . . . that he felt could be corrected over time."
Despite Sacks' efforts, Gray did ultimately kill himself. Afterward, Sacks sought Russo's permission to write about his condition.
"It was plaguing him, he said, that he wasn't able to help Spalding," Russo explains.
Published in April, 'The Catastrophe' was his final piece in The New Yorker. Russo says she believes Sacks' article will help her children cope with their father's death.
"He was one of the first ones to write me after Spalding's death, saying, 'You did everything you could, I've never seen such a brave partner before.' It was a lovely letter," Russo says.
She feels it was that compassion that set him apart from other doctors.
"I felt like he really, really cared about his patients."
In 1987, Dr. Sacks spoke with former As it Happens host, Michael Enright, about one of his patients -- an artist who went colour blind. Here's part of their conversation, from our archives:
