I’ve always known that I wanted to help others, I just didn’t know how I was going to do it. When I was 5 years old, my mother was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour and unbeknown to her, given only a year to live (apologies for the somewhat morbid start, however it’s important to know the raw details to understand where a big piece of my WHY comes from), long story short, my mum to this day has continued to baffle doctors and professors alike as to how she is still going. The rewards of this are obvious, she has had the opportunity to see her children grow up into adults and see her become a grandmother to 4 beautiful grandchildren. Unfortunately the implications of the tumour and subsequent treatment had a detrimental effect on my mother’s health. I grew up with the immense pain of wanting to ‘fix’ my mum but could only watch on helplessly as simple abilities such as walking became a great struggle. The constant inability to help my mum shattered not only my confidence but severed any self-esteem, which followed me into to my early 20s. It was at this point at my lowest (and my heaviest I might add, comfort food is real!) I realised that I could either  give up or do something about it. I thought of my mum and family and the incredible strength and courage they found to keep going, keep pushing and not give in and so that, for me, was my starting drive. From there I joined the gym and over the following months, my appearance had started to change but what I gained was so much more than a physical aspect,  I started to claw back some of that confidence I had lost and my mind became sharper and stronger as a result of exercising. Fast forward two/ three years and my wife and I had just found out we were expecting our first child. At this intense magical moment of finding out I was going to be a father, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my life and how to set about achieving it.