I didn’t set out to write books

I set out to understand what on earth was happening to me..

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Somewhere along the way - between Crohn’s disease, near-fatal sepsis, decades of medication, and a long list of questionable golf shots - I realised something.

 

The most useful information rarely comes from textbooks.

It comes from lived experience. - Real experience. Honest truths. No filters. That’s what this site is about. Not theory. Not recycled advice. Not “you should try yoga and see how you feel.”

Just what actually happens - when life, illness, medicine and reality collide..

 

The Medical Bit (the part I didn’t volunteer for)

I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in 1990. At the time, I assumed it was something that would be treated, managed, and eventually sorted. It wasn’t.

What followed was almost four decades of:

• Managing chronic illness

• Navigating the NHS

• Taking more medication than I care to remember

• Learning - often the hard way - what works and what doesn’t

And then, just to keep things interesting. Clinical Negligence following routine Gall Bladder day-case surgery led to triple sepsis. Forty-four nights in hospital. A week in intensive care. Followed by major open surgery. Not exactly part of the original life plan.

 

The Bit That Changed Everything

For years, I trusted the system completely. Take the medication. Follow the advice. Don’t ask too many questions. That works...until it doesn’t.

Over time, things stopped adding up. Contradictions. Side effects. Decisions that didn’t quite make sense.

And eventually, one unavoidable realisation: No one was looking at the whole picture. That was the turning point..

 

The Professional Life (yes, there was one)

Somehow - alongside all of this - I built and ran a successful marketing and advertising business. Which meant

• Turning up to meetings while in serious pain

• Entertaining clients when I should probably have been in bed

• Learning how to function when your body has other ideas

It turns out you can do quite a lot while quietly falling apart - as long as you smile convincingly enough.

 

And Then There’s Golf…

Golf entered my life as a supposedly relaxing hobby.

It has since provided:

• Occasional success

• Frequent humiliation

• And at least one recorded score of seventeen on a par three 

Which, for non-golfers, is less a sporting achievement and more a cry for help.

Still, it’s taught me something useful: No matter how bad things get… they can always get worse on a golf course.

 

Why These Books Exist

These books weren’t written to impress anyone.

They were written because:

• People aren’t told the full story

• Lived experience is often ignored

• And the reality of illness and treatment is very different from the brochure

If you’re dealing with any of this yourself, you’ll know exactly what I mean. If you’re not, you might find it enlightening. Possibly uncomfortable. But honest.

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A Final Thought

If there’s one thing I’ve learned through all of this, it’s this: You don’t need to become a medical expert.

But you do need to understand what’s happening to you. That’s where everything starts to change.