Petra Mingneau
When Dame Sue and Phil Bagshaw farewelled their son Andrew as he left Christchurch last year to become an aid worker in war-torn Ukraine, they both had the same horrible feeling that he would not be coming home.
“Of course, we hoped he’d be okay, but we both knew we would never see him again,” says Sue, her voice trailing off with emotion. “He was going to a war zone, the risks of dying were very high. We both just had a feeling.”
Sadly, that gut instinct turned out to be correct. Andrew, 47, was killed in Ukraine in January. Fellow aid workers have estimated that in his nine months there, he’d saved around 500 civilians by driving them out of danger zones.
Phil thinks research scientist Andrew also had a feeling his mission would cost him his life.
Fellow aid workers estimate Andrew helped 500 people while in Ukraine.
“I believe Andrew knew exactly what was going to happen. I think he wrote the story of his life and this was the final chapter. I think he knew going to Ukraine was something he was meant to do and how it would end.”
Now the actual story of Dr Andrew Bagshaw’s life has been turned into a book, The Quiet Hero. Written by award-winning journalist Philip Matthews, it provides an insight into a humble man with a strong social conscience who could not stand by while people were suffering in a war he felt was immoral.
“Right from childhood, Andrew had a strong sense of justice,” says Sue. “He always wanted to help others. We’re very, very proud of him.”
Sue and Phil, both doctors, are also big on helping others. Sue, made a Dame in 2019, has worked in youth health for many years and is currently opening a hub providing a variety of services for young people. Phil – a surgeon who founded the Canterbury Charity Hospital – was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to health.
Andrew, the eldest of their four children, was a highly intelligent man with a love of animals, cricket and science, who became a geneticist. Described as a “genuine genius” by his PhD supervisor, Andrew’s work included research into the role genetics play in personality and mental health.
In April 2022 Andrew, who was single, was planning to go to the UK to look for a research job, but decided to wait until a paper he’d written was published in a medical journal, as he hoped it would open doors. The paper has since been hailed as a breakthrough in DNA research that could lead to better understanding of genetic diseases and how to treat them.
After watching disturbing TV reports of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he decided to stop there on his way and volunteer as an aid worker.
Andrew in Donbas, while he was helping in the Ukraine in 2022.
“We couldn’t persuade him not to go,” says Sue, 73. “Once he was there, we encouraged him to go on to London, but he said, ‘No, I’m going to be here until this is finished.’ He had found meaning for his life.”
Sue and Phil’s worst fears were realised on January 8, when they were notified Andrew and fellow aid worker Chris Parry had disappeared while trying to evacuate an elderly woman from the town of Soledar, under attack by Russian troops. Confirmation they were dead came on January 20.
“It wasn’t a shock,” says Phil, 74. “We knew.”
The Bagshaws were initially told Andrew and British national Chris had been accidentally killed in Russian shelling, but their post-mortems showed they’d been shot, which suggests they were executed.
“People who worked with them are confident they were taken from the vehicle and shot,” says Phil. If this is the case, Andrew’s death is a war crime. “If it is, we want it listed at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. It would mean another country that Putin and his supporters have committed a war crime against. The court must take action against them.”
He adds that he and Sue don’t blame those directly responsible for Andrew’s death. “They were just pawns in an evil game.”
But they want an investigation into what happened because “the two things about Andrew were truth and decency, and we would like the truth about his death to come out”.
With his mum Sue in 2005.
In the meantime, they are determined to continue their son’s drive to help Ukraine. They’ve set up a charity in his name to raise money for aid and are hoping a cricket match at Hagley Oval in Christchurch on November 10 will bring in lots of money.
They also want to use their expertise to help Ukraine once the conflict is over. “We’re too old to go there, but we’ve got a massive amount of knowledge about how health systems work and we want to help them rebuild theirs,” Phil says.
The Quiet Hero by Philip Matthews (Allen & Unwin, rrp $37.99).
Throwing themselves into this work is helping a little with what Sue describes as their “deep, deep sadness”.
“The pain does not get any less, but it’s easier to deal with if you’re busy,” says Phil. “Something positive had to come out of this evil. I think it’s what Andrew would have wanted.”
