Dr. Tom McGinley fondly remembered as family and Foyle Hospice community celebrate palliative care pioneer

Mr. McGinley, addressing hundreds gathered for the launch Dr. Keith Munro’s new biography of the Foyle Hospice founder on the fourth anniversary of his death, said his father had had ‘a great passion for caring for people’ throughout his life.

His death on January 29, 2021, was met with a huge outpouring of grief, with President Michael D. Higgins leading tributes at the time.

However, due to pandemic restrictions then in place the people of the north west had been unable to properly bid farewell to a monumental figure.

"It is hard to believe that this day four years ago dad left us to be reunited with our beautiful mum. COVID restrictions back then robbed us of giving him the send off he deserved and prevented all of you from coming and paying your respects in person,” he said.

Tribute was paid to the staff of the Foyle Hospice and, in particular, Dr. Paul McIvor, who saw to it that after suffering a stroke on his 86th birthday on Boxing Day 2020, Dr. Tom was able to return to his beloved hospice to live his final hours.

"I phoned Paul on December 28 and asked, 'Paul, is there any chance that dad could come to the hospice?' Without any doubt, he said, 'Of course, Ciarán I'll make it happen for you.'

"COVID at that time was affecting us all but Paul made that happen. We are very grateful to Paul for allowing dad to go to the hospice to spend his final day surrounded by the people he loved so much and in the surroundings that he loved so much.”

Mr. McGinley described his father as a man with ‘a great passion for caring for people’ who was equally possessed of a ‘steely determination’ to make end-of-life care more humane in his adopted home of Derry and in his home county of Donegal.

"He was a man of great compassion. He often referred to himself as a blow-in from Donegal but he loved this city and he loved the people of this city and over time the people of this city grew to love and adore him.”

Poignantly Mr. McGinley, who worked at the hospice for years alongside his father, recalled him first and foremost as a loving dad.

"You will all have your own memories but for myself, Aisling, Ronan and Sinéad he was our dad and we love and miss him and our mum so very much,” he said.

‘Dr. Tom McGinley: Founder of the Foyle Hospice’, Dr. Munro’s new 235 page biography was described as 'a long overdue tribute' by local writer and publisher Garbhán Downey, who chaired the event this week.

"Tom was,” said Mr. Downey, “a firm believer that social change begins with the person and the community and he brought that same ethic to his life's work”.

Tom 'radicalised the course of health provision across the north west of Ireland and farther afield and dragged it kicking and screaming into the 20th and 21st centuries', he reflected.

Mayor of Derry & Strabane Councillor Lilian Seenoi-Barr said his impact on Derry, Strabane, Donegal and far beyond had been ‘immeasurable’.

“Tom was a true champion of health care, fighting on both sides of the border for better provisions and for the establishment of proper hospice care.

"He understood that dignity in care is a fundamental right, not a privilege, and worked tirelessly to make that a reality for this reason,” said the mayor.

New biography of Foyle Hospice founder Dr Tom McGinley to be launched in St. Columb’s Hall on fourth anniversary

His old friend Dr. Munro delivered a heartfelt presentation that ran the entire gamut of Dr. McGinley’s life from his nativity in the Bronx in 1934 through to his sad passing four years ago.

Like his authoritative new book Dr. Munro’s talk covered comprehensively Dr. McGinley’s formative years in Derrybeg, his education at St. Eunan's and UCG, his extracurricular career as both a footballer and a dancer, his marriage to his wife Deirdre and their family life together in the city.

The audience heard of Dr. McGinley’s early days as a GP in Derry, and his unyielding determination to develop a hospice in the city.

This had been sparked, Dr. Munro said, out of his frustration at being unable to deliver effective pain relief to Michael Donaghy, a 19-year-old St. Columb’s College pupil who was studying for his A-Levels, when he died of terminal bone cancer in the late 1960s.

Dr. McGinley’s life was a story that needed to be told, said Keith.

“A year ago I felt few people seemed to know much about Dr. Tom himself. Who was this extraordinary man of vision who worked constantly for decades to introduce a new approach to palliative care, and who spearheaded a financial pathway to deliver an inpatient and day care centre?” asked Dr. Munro as he explained to the audience why he had set out to write the biography in the first place.

He put in black and white the Gweedore doctor’s incredible legacy: “Over 40 years more than 22,000 patients and their families have benefited from advanced palliative care at home and in the hospice.”

Dr Tom McGinley: remembering a man of true vision

Mr. Downey, in his introductory address, spoke of how his own family had been among those 22,000.

"My late brother Ronán was given such great care by the hospice and by Tom in particular who had been his family doctor since birth,” he said, noting that Dr. Tom and Ronán, by chance, had both been laid to rest in the grounds of Burt chapel.

Mr. Downey said his late mother Dr. Áine Downey, who sadly passed away in 2020, had been a supporter from the hospice’s early days.

During their grief, Garbhán recalled, Dr. McGinley ‘demystified the process of dying and gently stripped away all the fear that arises from a diagnosis of terminal illness and reminded us of the enduring nature of love and hope and the human spirit’.

He described him as ‘a philosopher who revolutionised our thinking on terminal illness, palliative care, and death’.

He recalled conversations his mother used to have with Dr. McGinley about the concept of terminal lucidity – a surge of clarity and energy experienced by people on the verge of death.

The Irish-term is biseach an bháis – the improvement before death.

"My mother would talk to Tom about how this is what the hospice, with its hospitality, its spirituality, meant to her. Biseach an bháis, a time and a place where you are happy and at ease with being on the final part of your journey, a time and place of serenity.”

Dr. Tom McGinley 1934-2021: An extraordinary human being, a great humanitarian who leaves an exemplary legacy of medicine and care without borders or exclusions

Dr. Munro explained how Tom’s wife Deirdre had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 1994 and was terminally ill by the time of their 40h anniversary in 2003.

About a year before her death she wrote a personal tribute to her husband while ‘fully aware of what lay ahead’ and Dr. Tom, in April 2003, wrote a reply, weeks before her death, on June 7, 2003.

As Tom and Deirdre’s granddaughter Molly played the harp, their daughter Aisling read from Deirdre’s letter and their grandson Tom, his grandfather’s reply, to a hushed audience in St. Columb’s Hall.

Deirdre: “There is nothing in this world that I could buy or nothing that I could do for Tom, to repay the care, encouragement and undying love that he has given me, especially over the last eight years in my own battle with cancer and two recurrences.

"He has been alongside me every step of the way...Thank you, Tom. I cannot believe what a fortunate woman I am to have such a remarkable and compassionate husband.”

Tom: “Thank you for sharing your life with me. Thank you for experiencing with me the ‘highs and lows’ of every couple’s life journey...You have always been loving, caring, understanding, forgiving and supportive. I hope that you will always know just how much I love you and how much I really care. Is tú grá mo chroi.”

Tributes paid to Foyle Hospice founder and Derry icon Dr. Tom McGinley

Dr. Munro closed with reference to Tom’s return to the hospice for the final time.

“When it became clear that he showed no prospect of recovery his family requested that he be allowed to spend his final days in the care of the hospice with his family.

"He was welcomed home during the afternoon of January 28, 2021. Early the next morning he passed gently over the bridge."

During her remarks Mayor Seenoi-Barr observed: “Tom McGinley will always be remembered as one of the greatest champions this region has ever known.”

And his son Ciarán said: “His legacy lives on and will never be forgotten.”

‘A gentleman, an angel’ : Your tributes to Dr Tom McGinley