The Long game
What a marathon taught me about endurance beyond preparation — and why surgical training has its own version of mile thirteen.

Average Black Surgeon: Confessions from a Life Misunderstood

The Last Smack

I was four years old when I realised I could not control everything — but I could control myself. The last smack became the first lesson in resilience.

Eleven out of ten

The mark scheme said 10 was the limit. I was given 11.
That extra point wasn’t about perfection — it was proof that ceilings are often self-imposed. Sometimes excellence isn’t scoring full marks. It’s redefining the scale.

Sports Day

I was never the fastest. So I chose the harder race. Winning the 400m taught me something the 100m never could — sometimes persistence beats talent.

Hackney Marshes

Before sunrise, alone with a football and no audience. Improvement rarely happens in public. This is what unseen repetition really does to confidence.

When everything slows down

There are moments when everything slows down. Movement becomes instinct. Preparation becomes effortless. This is what it feels like when performance meets mastery.

The Motorway Lesson

I couldn’t master the clutch — until the pressure increased. Sometimes performance sharpens not when things slow down, but when they speed up.

The First Cut

Mentorship is rarely announced — it is earned quietly. One theatre list, one opportunity, and a lesson about hierarchy and preparation that never left me.

Teamwork

Teamwork isn’t slogans or shared credit. It’s stepping beyond titles when it matters. This is what real surgical collaboration looks like.

Shadow of My Father

Legacy, lineage and quiet encouragement.

Sports and Medicine

Networking before you know you're networking

The moment I became better at surgery

One month into being a consultant, grief replaced fear. Faced with a brutally complex case, the fog lifted. In that moment I stopped worrying about judgement and started operating with purpose.

Being called Stupid in theatre

Thirty-two years old. Exams passed. Years of training behind me. Yet in theatre a consultant called me “stupid.” In surgery, hierarchy is real — and sometimes the hardest lesson is knowing when to hold your ground.

Outcome 3

A moment when your career feels like it might collapse. Rumours spread, confidence disappears, and the system closes in. Sometimes survival requires finding another way forward.

Forgotten

Months after CCT, I found myself unemployed, filling out forms and applying for locums while the system moved on without me. When the operating stops, a surgeon must ask a difficult question: who am I now?

The Indian Uncle

In surgical training, skill isn’t enough. You need someone in your corner. My “Indian Uncle” spoke little—but protected me, built my confidence, and taught me the quiet power of trust and loyalty.

The Art Of Showing Your Work

You put your head down, you do the work, and you wait to be noticed. It took one conversation to understand why that was the wrong strategy.

Brothers In Arms

Surgery is competitive by design. Finding people who genuinely want you to succeed — and who you want the same for — changes everything.

Sisters and Misters

Some women in surgery don't just inspire you. They hand you the map they had to draw themselves, and quietly show you where the difficult rooms are.

Hospital At Night

I chose surgery on a quiet night in a doctors' mess, based on thirty minutes of calm and one honest conversation. The information was incomplete. The commitment was not.

In The Room Where They Used My Work

The panel told me I wasn't ready to sit my exam. That same term, I sat in a lecture theatre and heard my own work being taught to the room. Nobody knew I was there.

Two Languages

The approach that got me through training failed me completely in the exam room. Same knowledge. Different room. I had to learn a second language nobody teaches you.

Zero

I opened the assessment and saw zero. Not a low score. Not borderline. Zero. Across every domain. As if everything I had done in that theatre didn't exist.

The Long Distance between Speed and Experience

He was fifteen years older, calm, conservative in theatre. I assumed the half marathon was mine. He crossed the finish line well ahead of me and barely looked like he'd tried.

The House

I was asked to consider the biggest role available. I chose the smaller one instead. Not from fear — from knowing exactly where my leadership would actually mean something.