THE LIVES HE CHANGED FOREVER
patients, armed with just my medical knowledge. The patients I could treat on site, I treated, those I couldn’t, I drove back with to the hospital, and worked for another six or seven hours,” he recalls.
There was limited electricity so he sometimes had to work by the light of paraffin lamps.
“I did a lot of midwifery and I was often on my knees in the rondavels delivering babies. There were no telephones then. It was just me, the patient and the husband.”
He later studied further at the University of Pretoria. His decision to specialise as an ENT, which was in its infancy in South Africa, was influenced by the fact that it would allow him to do a lot of microscopic work, which he enjoyed.
He’s had his own practice ever since and his wife, Johanna-Maria, who was a nursing sister, supported him all the way.
John says in those early years he worked day and night and she and their three kids had to put up with him getting home at 3am.
“I was young then,” he says. “It didn’t affect me too much. Sometimes I would pack my children into the car with me so I could talk to them and bring them back home in the early hours of the morning.”
His own life hasn’t been free of tragedy. His daughter, Esté, died at the age of four in a car crash and his son, Ian Phillip (42), passed away in 2003.
John also lost Johanna-Maria nine years ago.
“She was bedridden for three years and couldn’t even talk. I attended to her day and night. I turned her in bed, washed her and removed the fluid from her lungs.
“Since then, my body clock got stuck into that routine and I sleep for an hour or so before waking up.”
JOHN doesn’t see himself quitting the job he loves. As he’s based at a private hospital and has his own practice, nobody can force him to retire. As long as he’s medically fit and renews his practice licence with the Health Professions Council of South Africa each year, he can work for as long as he chooses.
He doesn’t like the word retirement – instead he’s looking forward to slowing down. And he’s not interested in having hospitals or surgical procedures named after him in recognition of his long career. For him, the work itself is enough of a
reward.
When MOTSHEDISI MOTLOI (43) came to Dr John Callaghan’s office in 2018 she had a tracheostomy tube and couldn’t speak or smell.
So hopeless was her case that when Dr Callaghan presented it to other doctors at an international conference in Cape Town, all the other ENT specialists said nothing could be done to help her. “I could not accept that,” he says.
Through a series of nine surgeries, he managed to rebuild her larynx and helped restore her ability to breathe on her own as well as speak and smell.
“He gave me my voice back. I can talk to my husband and kids, even over the phone. I can smell cake again,” Motshedisi says.
“Whatever work you do, you must enjoy it. It must not be a stressful thing for you to wake up in the morning and go to work.”
He keeps fit by walking up and down the stairs at Mediclinic Medforum in Pretoria.
“I’m also a farm boy. I’ve got simple tastes and I eat simple food. I don’t smoke, I’ll have a glass of wine or whisky occasionally, but that’s it.”
When not working, he enjoys reading and spending time with his son, John (70).
“He would have been a good doctor, but none of my children followed me into medicine,” he says.
John is relieved his family don’t put any pressure on him to retire. People are always amazed he’s still working at his age, he says, but nobody has outright criticised him.
It’s amazing the things he’s found in people’s ears over the years – from ticks to metal balls and tips of earbuds.
“I’ve pulled very interesting things out of people’s ears,” he says, adding that his patients are a constant source of amusement. “I don’t laugh at them – we laugh together.”
INGRID BRAYSHAW (59) says Dr Callaghan didn’t just treat her, but also gave her the gift of music.
She first met him when she was six years old and had a chronic case of cholesteatoma (an abnormal collection of skin cells deep inside your ear which can affect hearing).
Over seven years, he created new eardrums for her and made little bones inside her ear so she could hear. Her most recent operation with him was last year when her hearing was once more deteriorating.
“I work as a music teacher and it’s because of [Doctor]
Callaghan that I can do that. He changed my life. The personal connection he has with his patients is what sets him apart from other doctors. He even attended my wedding,” Ingrid says.
‘I WORK AS A MUSIC TEACHER AND IT’S BECAUSE OF HIM THAT I CAN DO THAT’