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  • SA plastic surgeon succumbs to cancer 
  • Dr Tim Proudman helped thousands
  • READ MORE: Celebrity doctor dies 

A much-loved plastic surgeon renowned for his humanitarian work has succumbed to cancer at the age of 62 after a brave two-year fight after defying his dire diagnosis by running marathons including one in the Antarctic. 

Adelaide plastic and reconstructive surgeon Tim Proudman, who has been described by colleagues and friends as being a man with ‘a rare combination of extreme talent, incredible courage, humility and kindness’, died on Thursday.

He had been battling an incurable brain tumour, which was diagnosed in early November 2021.

His wife Susanna Proudman announced he died surrounded by family in the Calvary North Adelaide hospital’s Mary Potter Hospice.

Leading best plastic and reconstructive surgeon Tim Proudman has succumbed to cancer at the age of 62

Leading best plastic and reconstructive surgeon Tim Proudman has succumbed to cancer at the age of 62

‘Tim died peacefully of his glioblastoma in Mary Potter surrounded by family on February 22, 2024, after a gradual decline over several weeks,’ Professor Proudman told the Adelaide Advertiser.

‘He survived more than twice the expected median survival of 14 months and lived life to the fullest until near the end.’

Dr Proudman practiced and taught surgery across numerous sites in Adelaide including the Burnside Hospital, the Women’s and Children’s Hospital and Calvary Wakefield’s Surgicentre, as well as working and training in Brisbane.

He was on the board of the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia in 2023 for his work in Australia and overseas. 

He spent eight years volunteering his services to the remote Himalayan country of Bhutan where he operated on burns patients and victims of bear attacks in sometimes rudimentary conditions, as well as training young surgeons. 

‘We repair bits, manoeuvre things around, transfer skin from one place to another – it’s all part of the challenge of surgery,’ Dr Proundman told Channel Nine in March 2023.

‘We had to sew up the face of a young woman who lost her nose and two-thirds of her upper lip.

‘It’s like going back to where plastic surgery began during World War I, where you’ve got to find a way to reconstruct something to as close as where it was.’

Dr Proudman (pictured right wife Professor Susanna Proudman) did not let the cancer diagnosis stop him from running marathons

Dr Proudman (pictured right wife Professor Susanna Proudman) did not let the cancer diagnosis stop him from running marathons 

Dr Proudman also visited remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory to share his skills and knowledge. 

Even after he was diagnosed with the fatal brain tumour, Dr Proudman and his family hosted charity events to send medical teams to 17 countries across the Asia Pacific including Bhutan.

Dr Proudman also continued to run marathons, something he only began doing in later life.

To complete his goal of running a marathon in every continent he even completed a marathon in the Antarctic in temperatures of around minus 10C last May. 

Leading orthopaedic surgeon Richard Clarnette paid tribute to his longtime friend and colleague last August.

‘He’s devoted himself to registrar teaching and training and has worked tirelessly to help train local surgeons and develop his specialty in Bhutan,’ Richard says.

‘He’s a devoted family man who also loves spending time with his mates, fishing and golfing and travelling.

‘His recent illness has been devastating but he has tackled it with an unbelievably positive attitude. He is a man with a rare combination of extreme talent, incredible courage, humility and kindness.’

Dr Proudman is survived by his wife Professon Proudman, who is Rheumatology Unit Director at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, and three adult children – two who are also doctors and the other a lawyer.

His funeral will be held on Thursday March 7 at 2pm at Christchurch in North Adelaide.

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This post first appeared on Daily mail