A respiratory pandemic of the sort we are seeing now is a once in a century phenomenon.

I was a student at Ipswich School in the 1980s. At that time there was a scary new infection of a very different sort that became a pandemic. That was Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and was the cause of AIDS. Back at that time there was no cure and it was frightening as it affected lots of young people. Parents worried about it and we were taught about it at school. By the time I left medical school in 1996 the first effective treatment for HIV infection had been developed and now in 2020 it is almost completely treatable. 

In normal times I am a consultant dermatologist and I work in London. I usually spend my working day diagnosing and removing skin cancers and treating skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis. When the Covid19 epidemic started I volunteered my help to the Hammersmith Hospital (Imperial College) and am now doing shifts on Intensive Care, helping the doctors and nurses by taking bloods, escorting patients to CT scans, assisting with procedures, chasing up results and prescribing medicines. It’s challenging, but rewarding work and has made me realise that there are probably many different courses my life could have taken and medical specialities I would have enjoyed. 

Some of my colleagues have been quite poorly with Covid19, but have fortunately recovered. I’m still doing dermatology, two days a week, but mostly by video and telephone, which is surprisingly good. I’m sure many of us will be working differently with the positive experiences we have taken from the crisis. Our 30 year OI reunion was sadly cancelled this year, but like the Olympics, hopefully we will have it in 2021 and celebrate properly. 

Edward Seaton OI (83-90)