On Wednesday, January 5, 2011 the clients, volunteers and staff of Peterborough Community Chaplaincy, along with members of his family, said goodbye to Mike Walsh. Mike passed away at PRHC on December 30, 2010.
Mike came to our transition house in July 2007. At that time he was already being treated for lung cancer and had only been given a few months to live. Mike, however, was much stronger than anyone expected. With excellent health care and his strength of spirit Mike dealt with his illness and blessed us with his presence over the past three and a half years.
Mike did not have an easy life. He was born and raised in Newfoundland but at the age of five or six he was sent to the, now notorious, Mount Cashel Orphanage in St. Johns. The horrors of Mount Cashel are well documented and while these things had a profound effect on Mike he never really used this as an excuse for his choices later in life.
Mike was featured in a documentary film in 2007 called “A Hard Name”. The film looked into the lives of several ex-offenders who were working at making the transition from prison. The film also highlighted some of Mike’s music. He was a talented singer and songwriter. We were fortunate to have some of his original music recorded in 2007. Despite his talent he was not very happy with the sound of his voice later in life as the cancer had damaged his vocal chords.
Mike’s case was an amazing example of how the palliative care program at Peterborough Community Chaplaincy can work to bring dignity to an individual at the end of their life.
We would like to give special thanks to Mike’s visiting nurses, Dr. Friesen and the staff of D2 at PRHC. We would also like to thank “all the guys at the house” who helped make the last few years of Mike’s life the best they could be.
His music, his smiles, dry sense of humour and his Newfie accent will be sadly missed by everyone who knew and loved Mike. We are all richer for the extra time God granted us with him.