Gearin-Tosh, Michael 1940-2005
GEARIN-TOSH, Michael 1940-2005
(Michael Brian Gearin-Tosh)
OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born January 16, 1940, in Nambour, Queensland, Australia; died of a blood infection July 29, 2005, in Oxford, England. A tutorial fellow in English literature at Oxford University, Gearin-Tosh gained attention for his book, Living Proof: A Medical Mutiny (2002), in which he related how he survived multiple myeloma without the benefit of chemotherapy. An Oxford graduate, he earned a B.A. in 1961 and an M.A. in 1964. He then joined the faculty at Magdalen College, Oxford, as a junior lecturer, and from 1965 to 1971 was a research fellow at St. Catherine's College, where he served as vice-master from 1988 to 1990. He spent the next thirty-five years teaching English literature at Oxford, where he was also very involved in theater and was a director at the drama school. Diagnosed with myeloma in 1994, Gearin-Tosh did not wish to undergo chemotherapy, so he sought out alternative treatment methods. These proved to work well, at least in his case, and he surprised his doctors by far outliving their expectations. In fact, it was not cancer, but a blood infection that proved fatal for him. His Living Proof has served as an inspiration for many cancer sufferers since its publication.
OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:
PERIODICALS
Independent (London, England), August 3, 2005, p. 33.
Times (London, England), August 3, 2005, p. 52.