A KILLARNEY man who is one of the top cardiac surgeons in the country has told how the death of his younger brother after open-heart surgery put his job into perspective.
Lars Nölke is a consultant cardiothoracic surgeon at the Mater and Crumlin hospitals in Dublin with a special interest in congenital heart disease and heart-lung transplantation.
The former St Brendan’s College, Killarney student said he had an interest in medicine since his early teens, partly driven by the fact that his late brother, Sven, was born with congenital heart disease.
“The most difficult part of my job is not always having the answers or being able to fix the problem,” he said in a recent interview to promote the need for organ donation.
“My brother Sven died five years ago, following his second open-heart surgery, at 39.
“Until then I thought I understood what families go through, but his death showed me how little I really understood, and yet he has given me new strengths to help others,” he said.
Sven was a hugely popular personality in Killarney where he worked in the local tourist office and was a member of the Killarney Musical Society. A passionate Manchester United supporter, he throroughly enjoyed their glory days under Alex Ferguson and was a regular visitor to Old Trafford to see them play.
His 47-year-old heart specialist brother, who is married to Fossa, Killarney woman Norma Farrell, studied in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland before gaining experience in Germany and he later completed a masters in medical science, a diploma in sports medicine and fellowship examinations to become an FRCSI.
Mr Nölke, the father of three teenagers, spent a two-year term as visiting assistant professor at the department of cardiac surgery at a children’s hospital in San Francisco before returning to Ireland in 2005 to take up his current post as consultant cardiothoracic surgeon.
