Atlantic patients, colleagues pay tribute to renowned epilepsy specialist

When Dr. Mark Sadler wanted to raise awareness about epilepsy, he did it in a way that no one could ignore.

Cassidy Megan, who was his patient for years, says he went as far as dying his lab coat bright purple to hand out purple cupcakes in the lobby of Halifax's QEII Hospital.

"You could not miss it when you go in that door."

Megan is one of dozens of former patients from across the Atlantic region who are remembering Sadler, an epilepsy specialist who died Dec. 26 after a brief illness. He was 70 years old.

Sadler is credited with training a generation of neurologists who went on to specialize in epilepsy and now work around the world. He also established a monitoring program in Halifax that changed the way the department diagnoses and treats patients.

Awareness advocate

Megan first met the specialist when she was nine years old and came up with the idea for Purple Day, a day in March when people wear purple for epilepsy awareness. Sadler supported her campaign for years, before eventually becoming her doctor when she switched to the adult hospital.

She remembers going to international epilepsy meetings in Japan and Ireland. "There was never a place we went where we would bring up Dr. Sadler and someone in the room didn't go, 'Oh Dr. Mark Sadler! I remember when...!'"

Megan, now 24, says over the past two weeks, patients have been sharing stories of how Sadler changed their lives.

"In your appointments, he made sure to never rush you," she said. "You always had the amount of time you needed. He would encourage you to ask questions."

Megan recalled speaking to one person with epilepsy several years ago. The patient was so drained from the seizures, they told her they didn't care if they lived or died.

She called Sadler and he immediately intervened, finding new treatment that stopped the seizures.

"He saved that person's life and so many people's lives just by going the extra step and taking the extra time to really carve out the proper plans and proper treatments for each individual."

Passionate mentor

That story is one of countless that Dr. Ben Whatley has heard and witnessed over the years. Whatley arrived in Halifax in 2013 to train in the neurology department.

By the end of his first week, he says he knew he wanted a career in epilepsy, all thanks to Sadler.

"Mark had an infectious enthusiasm for clinical work. I've heard it said that he was always interested and interesting," Whatley said. "He demonstrated a number of characteristics even in that first week, well heck, even in that first hour, that made me think this is someone I should pay attention to."

Whatley says about half of the physicians who trained under Sadler in the last decade have gone on to specialize in the treatment of epilepsy.

"That's a really a huge mark of honour for Dr. Sadler that he was able to inspire people to pursue the same career," he said. "There are others working in Calgary, at Yale in the United States and several in Saudi Arabia."

Atlantic leader

It was Sadler who was instrumental in setting up a monitoring unit in Halifax in 1988, where patients from across the Atlantic region would have a safe space to go off their medication so the doctors could see if they were candidates for surgery.

"I've heard from patients since he died who became seizure free as the result of his treatment, sometimes 10 or 15 years ago," Whatley said of his mentor. "He really built a world-class epilepsy program here and the epilepsy monitoring unit is the core of that accomplishment, really."

Over the years, Sadler took on extra leadership roles including as president of the Canadian League Against Epilepsy, and spoke around the world.

Whatley says if a patient was struggling to cover the cost of their medication, the doctor would go out of his way to fill out paperwork and look into different funding areas to make sure finances weren't a hurdle to receiving proper treatment. It took "a tremendous amount of time," Whatley said.

While Sadler technically retired in 2021, he didn't give up his life's work. He stayed on as a professor emeritus and continued to attend weekly meetings where complicated cases were discussed.

"It would be rare for a week to go by without some pearl of wisdom from Dr. Sadler at one of those meetings. He continued to be involved in the program up until about two weeks before his death."

Fellowship in his memory

Whatley says the loss of Sadler has been tough on the department, where every single physician has been trained by him at some point in their career.

He says they knew they had to do something to honour their former mentor, and are now working with the QEII Foundation to set up a fellowship program in his memory.

The fellowship will support one neurologist at a time as they work to specialize in epilepsy treatment.

The foundation's page with the details of the fellowship has already been flooded with notes and memories from Sadler's patients.

"Dr. Sadler knew about this project [before he died] and he was profoundly touched," said Whatley.

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