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 an absolute world extraclass in his field (especially concerning the diagnosis and classification of kidney tumors), remained unknown to the wider public. His 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, the results of his absolutely phenomenal scientific activities (among other things, in Pilsen he built probably the largest registry of rare kidney tumors in the world) will forever save or significantly improve the lives of even more people. He 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 take advantage of the opportunity to cooperate with Ondra on scientific projects.
In addition to his professional career as a physician, Ondra was a great expert and a 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 surroundings (more here: https://fondeden.cz/). 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.
P.S.: who would like to know more, a beautiful obituary is in aj on these pages: https://gupathsociety.org/Ondrej-Hes
Michael Michal
