Graham Bryce, clinical associate professor in the Dept. of Surgery, has won the Courage to Come Back Award in the medical category from Coast Mental Health.
Bryce, a former ear, nose and throat surgeon at St. Paul’s Hospital, suffered a stroke in 2000 caused by an infection that cut off the blood supply to part of his brain. He needed surgery to have most of the right side of his brain removed, which limited his mobility on the left side of his body and ended his career as a surgeon.
Despite left-side paralysis and loss of vision in his left eye, Bryce continued work he had begun before his stroke chairing the fundraising committee for the B.C. Family Hearing Resource Society, and became involved in the Balance and Dizziness Society and joined the Faculty of Medicine, teaching ethics in the community. He is also on the board of directors for the Greater Vancouver Community Services Society.
Bryce spends his time advocating for hearing health, mostly on a volunteer basis. He helped launch the early hearing program in B.C. that ensures that every baby’s hearing be screened at birth and another program designed to prevent the epidemic of noise-induced hearing loss. Bryce also became a board member for the Western Institute for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing where he worked to help the hard of hearing improve their communication and access to society.
“I’ve had to build a whole new life,” he told The Province. “It was a change in my identity. My life is very different from what I anticipated. People don’t anticipate this happening and until you’re there and you face whatever challenges, you don’t know how you’re going to respond.”
For more information, visit http://www.med.ubc.ca/about_us/Awards_and_Honours.htm#bryce
