20/09/2026
I dropped my son off at university yesterday and it turned out to be one of the most painful things I have ever done. I wasn’t expecting this, I had been so happy for him, he was excited, prepared, ready for his new life, and I understood all of this, remembering too how I felt at exactly his age, being dropped off in 1995. Yet I spent most of the drive back last night, and this morning, in tears, feeling like he has gone forever.
For eighteen years my life had a shape. Taran was at home, my mother was fit, independent and well, and I spent long days in clinic and theatre, and more recently many months building OrthoLongevity & Orwyn, trusting that the people I loved would always be there, accessible to me when I got home.
This summer it all started falling apart. My mother had a significant stroke while on holiday overseas, I flew out to be with her, stayed by her bedside for weeks, advocating diplomatically for her as a son but also as a doctor to ensure her care was as good as it could be, then we brought her home with a nurse es**rt, ambulance to plane, plane to ambulance, into her local NHS stroke unit, who were amazing. She is now working hard in a rehabilitation unit, but I’m not sure she will ever be my mum again, like how I knew her, so it’s tough.
I turn 50 in January, the age my father was when he died, and an age my grandfather never reached. If I want to drive Finley to university one day, I will be 68, and I need to be strong, mobile and well enough to carry his boxes up the stairs.
That is exactly what I am passionate about for my patients.
Orthopaedic longevity is how we protect those moments, and it is why I am building Orwyn with the NHS, so that people with joint and muscle problems see the right person at the right time, regardless of whether they can afford to pay.
So today, I will keep going, for Finley, for my patients, and for anyone who wants more good years with the people they love, and I will continue to practise what I preach.
What has helped you adjust when life has started to change around you? I need some help ❤️