He was a childhood friend of the Dalai Lama, operated with Fred Hollows, performed emergency caesareans in a third world country and built a house for orphans in Uganda.
But in the end, Dr Stuart Kidd of Mt Riverview, lost the battle with his personal demons when he took his own life recently.
His wife Janet told a packed City Church auditorium in Mt Riverview on Friday that her husband, who many people would know through the hit TV series Gogglebox, would have wanted his death to spark a national conversation about suicide.
Stuart wanted to tell his story and bring dark deeds into the light to be a change for the future for others, so I also feel passionate about that.
Stuart died a sudden death of his own choice. Stuart was raped when he was extremely young by the people his parents paid to care for their children when they were working in India. Stuart was in a sense murdered by his abusers, but he bravely hung on to life as long as he possibly could.
Dr Kidd, 60, died on May 30 after struggling for years to cope with a mental illness stemming from that childhood abuse. He told the Gazette last year, that kind of abuse, according to the Blue Knot Foundation, affects about five million Australian adults. His story in the Gazette prompted an appearance on an ABC TV program discussing childhood sexual abuse. The progam You Cant Ask That will air on July 11.
Dr Kidd advocated for sufferers to contact the Survivors And Mates Support Network (SAMSN), a western Sydney-based group formed in 2010 by a small group of survivors of child sexual assault concerned that there was little, if any, practical support for men who had been victims of paedophiles as boys or teens.
His daughter, Missy Cooper, is setting up a memorial fund to give support for families in conjunction with SAMSN.
Wife Janet told the gathered congregation her gentle husband finally wore out.
He was a childhood friend of the Dalai Lama, he watched Victor Chang do open heart surgery, he operated with Fred Hollows, he assisted with brain surgery, performed emergency caesareans in a third world country, he met Prince Charles and Princess Diana he made the Queen smile, he played the grand piano in the Sydney Opera House, he literally saved lives in the delivery room we built a house for orphans in Uganda. It was my enormous privilege to be his wife. But he wore out and it was time for him to be free.
He was so handsome on the outside and broken inside, now his body is so broken and his spirit is free.
- For help go to www.samsn.org.au, www.blueknot.org.au or through the helpline: 1800 4 SAMSN (72 676) or contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.
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