\n If Dr Kathleen Murtagh\u2019s family were to describe her in just a few words, \u201cmedical warrior Queen\u201d and \u201ctrue Catholic lady\u201d is how they would do it.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cShe was an extraordinary human being,\u201d said Kathleen\u2019s niece, Liz Murtagh.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThis was someone who laid all of her intellect, all of her will, all of her intelligence, all of the gifts she was born with, to the service of other people from the get-go.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt’s stunning, really.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Dr Kathleen Murtagh (Image: Liz Murtagh)\n<\/p>\n
\n Kathleen was born in Prestatyn, Wales, on February 20, 1945. Life was by no means easy, and the family moved around following the end of the Second World War. One of the places they lived was a slum in Poole, where Kathleen\u2019s brother, Brian, recalled seeing rats scurrying about the basement.\n<\/p>\n
\n The children\u2019s mother scrimped and saved until she could afford a house in Swanage, Dorset, where she opened a guesthouse.\n<\/p>\n
\n Kathleen was educated by nuns at the local convent. She was fiercely intelligent from a young age, and soon the sisters admitted that they had taught Kathleen all they could, and she was transferred to an Ursuline convent, where the education was somewhat better.\n<\/p>\n
\n In those days, explained Liz, Catholic girls who had been educated by nuns simply did not decide to become doctors.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThey decided to be nurses until they got married and had babies,\u201d Liz explained. \u201cIt was a really incredible thing for a girl with her background to decide to do, but she was so strong willed, so determined, so committed and so clever, and that’s what she did.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Kathleen studied hard at Sheffield University before departing for Uganda, where she qualified as a paediatrician. The next stop was Papua New Guinea.\n<\/p>\n
\n In April 1980, Rhodesia became Zimbabwe, and Kathleen returned to Africa, becoming a senior authority on paediatrics in the newly-formed country.\n<\/p>\n
\n The 1980s were difficult time for Zimbabwe; Gukurahundi massacres would continue in the Matabeleland and Midlands provinces until 1987, mass killings later shown to have been ordered by then-Prime Minister Robert Mugabe.\n<\/p>\n
\n However, Kathleen was determined to remain in the country and share her knowledge. She also believed passionately in equality, and was not prepared to go against her principles, even when this attracted attention.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThere was still a hospital for black people and a hospital for white and Asian people,\u201d explained Liz. \u201cMy aunt wasn\u2019t having that. She pushed very hard for allocation to be on the basis of medical need and medical outcome, not the race of the person.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cShe did a lot of work there in Zimbabwe, raining other doctors, training paediatricians, training paediatric nurses.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cShe transformed lives.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Dr Kathleen Murtagh, holding a baby she cared for in Zimbabwe (Image: Liz Murtagh)\n<\/p>\n
\n The tense political climate and Kathleen\u2019s reputation for speaking her mind led Kathleen to purchase three large Rhodesian Ridgeback dogs, who were so fiercely loyal that they could not even allow Kathleen to swim, leaping into the pool to save their beloved owner, who they feared was drowning.\n<\/p>\n
\n Kathleen would be accompanied by one of her dogs wherever she went; the nurses would be relieved when Dr Murtagh was on night duty, for all the undesirables would slink away.\n<\/p>\n