05/09/2026
Nearly two years on from the surgery that brought me back to Stockbridge — and led me to relaunch Stockbridge Local.
What started with a 4cm tumour deeply rooted beneath my facial nerve became groundbreaking surgery to remove it while protecting my facial nerve — which was terrifying, with permanent facial paralysis being one of the risks.
It became headline news, and I later found out my surgery story had also been featured at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.
Along the way, it reconnected me with people I hadn’t worked with for years — including 20 years after we last worked together — and introduced me to new people such as , who I first met through SL and who has since become a friend.
, who created the SL-branded coffee in my hampers alongside a number of other local businesses featuring the best of Stockbridge, is now a SL business member.
📍 A recovery that brought me back to Stockbridge
🔄 The relaunch of SL just weeks after surgery
The future of surgery?
Maybe for the next generation, ‘hologram’ will be as familiar as ‘MRI’ is today.
Life isn’t easy, but I’m incredibly grateful for the people who have been part of the journey and for everything that has come from what was, at the time, a pretty frightening chapter.
A special thank you to Professor Mark McGurk, who created the hologram and came out of retirement from London to oversee my surgery, and to Mr Iain Nixon, who took me under his wing at and worked alongside Professor McGurk to give me the best possible outcome. Forever grateful to them both.
NHS Lothian | Stockbridge Local | Ground-breaking Surgery | Parotid surgery | Hologram Surgery
