This week the world lost a friend, colleague and advocate for IBD patients. For decades, Patrick McLean had dedicated his expertise to advancing research into the cause of IBD. Beginning  with Prof. Borody at Giaconda and continuing as project manager at RedHill, he advanced anti-mycobacterial treatment solutions for chronic immune diseases such as Crohn’s and multiple sclerosis – some of which have healed members of our community. He had great compassion for patients, and exemplified the best of humanity. Our community was blessed to have known him, and he leaves a legacy which will ripple throughout time.

A Message from Ira Kalfus, MD

Dear Friends:

It is with profound sadness that I reach out to all of you today.  Patrick McLean, our friend and colleague, passed away early Tuesday morning due to a particularly aggressive small cell cancer complicated by Covid-19.  To the end, he approached his illness with the dignity, courage, and humility he demonstrated throughout his life.  He was undoubtedly one of the finest human beings I have had the pleasure of knowing. This year especially, we have all experienced tremendous loss and I ask each of you to take a moment and recall Patrick as I do.

Patrick was an individual who never lost faith in his God, his fellow man or his ability to change the world – be it helping an elderly shut in or running a soup kitchen. He was driven to have Crohn’s disease recognized as an infectious disease. Though it has been several years since we all last spoke, and even longer since we may have met in person, believe me when I say that all of us have shared a journey in the investigation of the use of Anti-Map therapy in Crohn’s disease.  Through it all, our leader and the one most passionate towards this endeavor was Patrick McLean.  Patrick was the project manager for the RedHill study and more importantly was the prime mover in Giaconda, the Australian company that first identified this treatment. In many ways he was the glue that held the global MAP community together and he devoted much of the past 15-20 years of his life advancing this therapy for those patients in the IBD community who he believed would benefit from its use. Remarkably. he did not have Crohn’s disease, had no relative with IBD, and was not a physician.  He was simply a man on a mission.

Patrick was a mentor to anyone interested in learning, an ear to anyone who needed to talk, and a friend to all who knew him.  He touched the lives of people in all walks of life and consistently found the good in those he met.  He understood the need to do the right thing and had an innate sense of what was the right thing to do. There is an expression that coaches sometimes use – no guts no glory.  Patrick laughed in the face of this doctrine.  Patrick had the guts of a warrior and exhibited it over the past four weeks as well as throughout his career.  But more importantly, he recognized the futility and innate lack of value in glory for glory’s sake. Patrick often used classic Yiddish phrases and there is no better word  to describe him than the word “mensch” which the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines as  “someone to admire and emulate, someone of noble character”. Farewell my friend.

We will all miss you but have been blessed by knowing you.

Ira Kalfus MD