Page 74 - Eclipse - Autumn/Winter 2022

IN MEMORIAM

was her work for Vets4Pets Norwich Heather’s illness progressed quickly.
Longwater, where she worked ever Her strength, peace and clarity as she
since her move to the county. went through all that she was facing
HEATHER GAGE Heather was pivotal to her practice – gave those around her great comfort –
(NÉE RYAN) (2004) she was a caring vet who loved her job, and in typical Heather style, during the
By Lorna Clark a kind person and a natural mentor. last visits we made to the hospital, she
Obituary, published in Vet Record, never stopped chatting. We laughed and
Vol 189, Issue 11, 4/11 December cried, and she talked openly about her
2021, p446 plans to make sure that everyone was
going to be OK after she had gone.
She was described perfectly by a
close friend, who said: “She created
a wave of love that spread throughout
our group”. This would have been an
incredible feat for anyone, but even
more so for Heather, considering
what she was going through.
Heather passed away on 11 October
Tributes received from new graduates 2021, aged 40, surrounded by her family.
who had worked with her have been She leaves behind her husband, Stewart,
extremely moving. They referred to her and her five-year-old son, Jenson.
as ‘mama vet’, which describes perfectly
her nurturing style of leadership. One Heather loved dancing, cocktails and
said: “I arrived in practice as a terrified cheesy music. She asked that rather
new grad and Heather mentored me than a sombre funeral, she should be
through. She was patient, kind, and remembered and her life celebrated
gave me a love for medicine that I have the way she lived it.
Heather Gage (née Ryan) BVetMed, pursued since then. She set me off on To honour Heather, we should get
MRCVS, (b) 1981, (q) Royal Veterinary my career and I’m the vet I am because I our glad rags on, pour ourselves a
College 2004. Died 11 October 2021. wanted to be like her.” mojito and dance around (badly) to
A wife, mother, friend and vet. Her team describe the practice as being some 90s disco tunes, just as she
The world – and profession – will like a family, with Heather at its heart. would want us to.
be worse off for her loss.
Fulfilling a lifetime ambition, Heather
graduated from the Royal Veterinary
College in 2004.
She was the ringleader and the glue
that held a large circle of good friends
together throughout college and after
graduation. Her huge smile, positivity
and sense of adventure (or sometimes
misadventure) meant there was rarely a
quiet night in when we were around her.
After graduation, Heather spent a
couple of years in small animal practice
in Essex and then – as is testament
to her determination, planning and
optimism – decided that she was
going to move to Norfolk, for no other
reason than she just thought it would be
a lovely place to live. And for her, it was.
Heather carved out a life for herself
and her family there, and central to this

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