Neil Smart was a consultant colorectal surgeon at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, head of clinical trials and editor-in-chief of the journal Colorectal Disease. At last year's annual meeting of the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland, he was unable to give a lecture on his work investigating problems in colorectal surgery, for which he was widely recognized. Delegates had seen him on video taken at the hospice a few weeks earlier, just days before his death from cancer at age 50. The video was screened as part of a celebration of his life and won Geoff Oates' top video award. In it, Smart spoke openly about his cancer, expressed hope and thanked the community he had the privilege of serving in life. "I'm sad to leave you," he concluded.