Seminal Moments
- mqaddison-black
- Nov 14, 2024
- 2 min read
We all experience seminal moments in our lives. Sometimes we can anticipate them. Sometimes we cannot. Resilience lies in how we respond to the unexpected. Leadership is how we support others through these moments (particularly the tough ones).
In 2012, my anticipated seminal moments were supposed to be: commissioning as an officer from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and deploying to Afghanistan later in the year.
Life had other plans.
4 weeks before commissioning, I was diagnosed with Testicular Cancer. Not a seminal moment that I had planned or prepared for.
The next 6 months were rough. I lost 20% of my lung capacity and experienced the full nuclear blast of chemotherapy (4 rounds of bleomycin, etoposide & cisplatin), all the time knowing that my Battalion were on Operations without me. The odds weren’t in my favour, and I was given a 40:60 survival rate. The Army offered me a medical discharge. I said no.
So, what did I do instead?
· 4 months after being diagnosed, I commissioned from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
· 8 months after being diagnosed, I passed every physical assessment for the infantry.
· 9 months after being diagnosed, I passed the Doku Race for Gurkha selection.
· 1 year after being diagnosed, I returned to active duty.
Why am I sharing this?
Not through any need for validation, I gain that every day by not being dead, and certainly not to virtue signal on LinkedIn. I am sharing this because it is the start of ‘Movember’ and I want to encourage everyone who reads this to take the advice you would give to someone else and put 5 mins aside for a personal MOT.
These websites provide a decent guide for self-checks:
Hopefully it is obvious from this post that if you need an ear, I am here.
Memento mori, memento vivere.
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