Life can change in an instant: hard-earned lessons and personal reflections

We now understand the unexplained shutdown of my kidneys and other functions a decade ago, which led to a seizure and me spending a month in a coma, was caused by aHUS, a rare and unpredictable condition.

When I finally woke, the world felt different. 

The recovery ahead was long, brutal at times and humbling in every way. 

It stripped away certainty, ego, assumptions and forced me to rebuild piece by piece whilst trying (and failing for many years) to accept the condition I had been labelled with. Surviving an aHUS episode taught me that life can be knocked off course in an instant. That systems, whether physical, organisational, or relational can fail without warning. That recovery is slow, often lonely and rarely linear. 

And that the only thing you truly control is your commitment to keep moving, keep rebuilding, keep believing and to stay honest with yourself, even when that truth is uncomfortable.

In many ways, the journey of Africa Legal over the past decade has mirrored that same rhythm: alongside the successes and the highs, unpredictable shocks, painful recalibrations, moments where the very foundations felt shaken, and yet, an inbuilt instinct to survive, and to grow.

Where my body once failed me without explanation, our business too has faced moments where external forces, broken commitments, or shifting landscapes created fractures we didn’t foresee. Where I once had to relearn how to trust my own strength, we have had to rebuild structures, relationships and strategies from the inside out.

But just as my personal recovery demanded truth, humility, discipline and perspective, Africa Legal’s evolution has demanded the same.

Being grounded became essential, especially when others behaved in ways that were destabilising or disingenuous. Staying committed to growth became non-negotiable, even when the easy option would have been to retreat. Being anchored in the truth about who we are, what we stand for and what Africa Legal needed became the compass that guided every difficult decision.

People often say, “That’s Africa,” as if adversity or chaos is a defining trait. 

But my experience in life and in business shows something different: Africa is defined by heart, by resilience and by clarity forged under pressure. The ability to make the right decisions and stand by them, putting ego aside, is what creates real leadership. A management team must have a strong moral compass, and sometimes that means admitting when they were wrong. 

That level of honesty is not weakness; it is the foundation of trust.

Across this journey, I have been fortunate to meet clients who have stood by us, believed in us, and moved forward with integrity even in unstable times. I have made lifelong friends who have been anchors who reminded me, and us, of our purpose when the noise around us grew loud.

Those relationships are the living proof that Africa Legal was never just a business. It is a community built on the shared belief that African legal professionals deserve a platform, visibility and opportunities equal to their talent.

One day, maybe I’ll write the story of the turning points, the characters who shaped the landscape: the inspiring ones, the destructive ones, the unforgettable ones. There is humour in it, pain in it and lessons in every chapter. 

But for today, it is about acknowledging the journey.

On illness and survival. 

On business and resilience. 

On grounding yourself when the world around you wobbles. 

On choosing truth over noise. 

On rebuilding, again and again, with intention and integrity.

And also this: the ability to face challenges with acceptance, with understanding, and when it is deserved, with forgiveness. But never at the expense of justice. 

That balance has been one of the great lessons of the past decade.

Accepting aHUS has taken ten years. For a long time, I carried it as something random, frightening, and undeserved, something that couldn’t possibly have happened to me. But a recent conversation with another aHUS survivor, someone who had endured a high-profile and deeply traumatic attack, shifted something in me. Hearing her story, sharing mine, and realising the common threads between us helped me finally accept my own experience. 

It allowed me to see that what I went through also equips me to help others facing the same darkness; that my own survival can stand as support, understanding, and reassurance for someone else.

Trusting my own judgement - my instincts about people, about decisions, about the right course of action - has been an equally long and difficult journey in business. But in time, that journey has revealed itself as a strength, even a kind of superpower. It has taught me that nothing and no one stands above the truth, your own integrity, or your own sense of what is right.

Ten years ago, survival was instinct. Today, it is consciously grounded in clarity, strengthened by experience, and guided by purpose.