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What is Osteopathy?
A Special Tribute
Sheena - beautiful person, brilliant osteopath, made a difference.
Sheena Robertson 1963 - 2011
The osteopathic world has lost a shining light with the death of Sheena Robertson who fought with great spirit against her cancer over six and a half years but finally succumbed aged 47 on 22nd October. Sheena was much loved by many and gave her all in everything she did. Before becoming an osteopath, Sheena gained a degree in fashion and marketing at what was Northumbria Polytechnic. By 1989 she was working as a freelance fashion stylist for Elite Premier the big model agency and worked with many famous models, celebrities and pop-stars including Take That, Kim Wilde, Kylie Minogue and Prince. Sheena was as, if not more, glamorous and charming than many of the people she worked with and had a marvellously warm and uplifting energy and a sense of humour to match.
Her change of career to osteopathy was abrupt and a big surprise to everyone including her husband Nick who was working as a music composer at the time. He said that deep down - despite her love of clothes - she didn't enjoy the fashion world and found it shallow and could never reconcile it with the spiritual core of her personality. She took up osteopathy with gusto, pausing only briefly to give birth to her daughter Bibi (now 15) and her son Billy (now 10), characteristically without drugs or intervention in a bath at home! She also enjoyed several years of teaching in the clinic at the BSO where her verve and enthusiasm were infectious. In 2003 Sheena left London to return to her hometown of Newcastle where she set up practice with Jane Dent from whom she’d received treatment 15 years before.
Then, as we sadly know, in 2005 her biggest challenge revealed itself. Cancer, and the threats to life it brings, scares even the strongest of personalities, but not Sheena. She saw the breast cancer as there to be beaten from the start. The way she fought it was amazing - she didn't want patients knowing too much, and various stories were made up to cover for the time she had to take off for an enormous multitude of operations and treatments. Sheena always made the patient feel like the most important person in the
world and in return she was unreservedly loved and respected. According to Jane, peals of laughter could regularly be heard coming through her treatment room wall.
She fought her battle with immense strength and incredible support from Nick all the way through. She had an almost supernatural sense of her inner self, and she knew that the terrible irony of her challenge was that the battle would be between her body and her spirit. Sheena possessed a unique mind-body connect, a tough, gutsy inner-force, that would never allow extreme pain and discomfort to stop her from doing what she desired. At times you could only step back in amazement and admire the sheer strength of her conviction and resolve. She was once overheard to say to a friend over the phone, “Oh, I just tell myself, I'm not ill, I'm just inconvenienced”
At the end Sheena was able to fulfil her wish, choosing to come home and be close to her family and friends. She died peacefully and a humanist ceremony was held for her in keeping with her great love and belief in people.
A brave beautiful lady. She will be much missed.
Dennis Picknett
Whitley Bay Osteopathic Centre, 65 Whitley Road, Whitley Bay, Tyne & Wear, NE26 2EP
Clients visit us from across the North East - Newcastle, South Shields, Sunderland, Gosforth, Tynemouth, Morpeth, Alnwick, Northumberland.