James Hanlon (medical doctor)

Hanlon had several heart attacks in early 1961. He had started to visit Lourdes every summer since losing his sight; in June 1961, he died in the Asile hospital on the grounds of the shrine. He received tributes from around the world at his death; Pope John XXIII ordered that news of his death be announced on Vatican radio, and a French television report described him as a man of great courage and as a "hero for all." His Irish Times obituary said Hanlon "overcame blindness and impaired hearing to lead a brilliant medical career."

Upon returning to Dublin he began to work with physiotherapist Kathleen O'Rourke, who ran a remedial clinic for polio victims in her apartment. She would eventually establish Central Remedial Clinic in Dublin. Hanlon was able to diagnose the condition through careful attention to early signs of the disease, such as the vibration of a slightly dragging foot. In 1954 he toured the United States, leading a campaign to fundraise for the clinic. During this trip he appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show and met Helen Keller.

Hanlon worked as an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) consultant surgeon and assistant to Dr. Stafford Johnson in Dublin in the 1940s. He practiced medicine at the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital and at St Laurence's Hospital, as well as a private hospital he established with two colleagues on Leeson Street.

James Hanlon (1908 – June 1961) was an Irish medical doctor. After an infection left him blind and deaf at age 42, forcing his retirement from surgery, he retrained to become a physiotherapist. Hanlon was likely the first deafblind person to study and practice physiotherapy. He later worked at the Dublin Central Remedial Clinic, treating patients and raising money for funding a new clinic for polio patients.

James Hanlon was born in 1908. He attended Clongowes Wood College County Kildare and Blackrock College in Dublin. He excelled at sport, particularly rugby and diving, as well as golf. Hanlon won the John Lumsden Memorial Cup at the Royal Dublin Golf Club in 1939. He ​studied medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in London. He continued his studies in a number of postgraduate positions, including in Vienna, where he learned the latest tonsillectomy techniques which he would pioneer in Ireland.