
Whilst in charge of the Burns Centre in London, Greg was one of the surgeons who looked after Rob when he was first admitted to hospital and helped him to survive his terrible injury.
After Greg left the NHS, Rob approached him and asked if he would accompany him and help him to achieve his life-long dream of following in Ernest Shackleton’s footsteps to try and walk to the South Pole. As Rob will be more prone to hypothermia than the average person because his burn scars are not able to thermo-regulate as efficiently as his non-burned skin, he will need constant supervision. It will also be Greg’s responsibility to monitor Rob’s burn scars closely for signs of frostbite as they will be more susceptible than normal skin.
Although born and raised in Jamaica, Greg had exposure to extreme cold and trekking whilst at boarding school in Canada where he was an Outward Bound Instructor in Northern Ontario and trained in cold weather wilderness survival. Greg says he will be combining the Jamaican bobsled team’s motto of ‘no problem’ with Shackleton’s famous saying ‘difficulties are just things to overcome’ to get Robert safely to the South Pole and back home.