Ondra Wetlands 2022

The death of every person is always a very sad event, but sometimes people die who are so special that a person weeps not only over the loss of that person, but also at the idea of what the world is deprived of from now on. The saddest thing is when there is a death of such a person in your vicinity. This is what happened to me and my colleagues last week, when quite suddenly and prematurely, at the age of 54, our beloved colleague Prof. MUDr. Ondřej Hes. He was one of those people who, although he was a complete world class in his field, remained unknown to the wider public.

Ondra's routine diagnostic work as a surgical pathologist has helped to properly treat tens of thousands of patients in the Czech Republic and around the world for almost 30 years. The results of his phenomenal scientific activities will then forever save or significantly improve the lives of even more people. During his career in Pilsen, Ondra built probably the largest registry of kidney tumors in the world, where he collected samples of the rarest tumors, which, thanks to his fame, were sent to him from all over the world for diagnosis. From this registry, he was able to draw material for his research, which led to the identification of many new tumor types that were previously not recognized and were so often inappropriately treated. Thanks to these achievements, Ondra was regularly invited by the World Health Organization (WHO) among a handful of the world's leading experts to participate in the creation of the WHO classification of kidney tumors. This classification then determines how doctors around the world will diagnose, name and treat these tumors. During the preparation of the last edition, Ondra was already one of about 10 main authors. In the number of scientific publications and in their citation, he is one of the most successful scientists of Charles University of all time. Ondra also devoted a large part of his time to teaching medical students, of whom many thousands passed through his hands. Every year, many mostly young pathologists from all over the world came to Pilsen to improve their diagnosis of kidney tumors and to take advantage of the chance to cooperate with Ondra on scientific projects.

In addition to his professional career as a doctor, Ondra was a great expert and very active protector of animals and nature, and together with his friends he is responsible for the creation and development of tens of hectares of wetlands and other unique biotopes in our area. And above all, he was absolutely unique in a human way, constantly joking, giggling and ready to help anyone. I don't know anyone like that.

I am also writing this post to remind us all that most of the best people do not hang out in front of the camera and you will not find them on the Blesk website. On the contrary, these people usually live their lives quite secretly. Without them, our society would be worth nothing. Now I just hope that even without Ondra, there are still enough of them among us. Rest in peace, Ondra, we will miss you terribly.

Michael