Eleven days after his life changing and hopefully life saving surgery to remove a tumour the size of a tennis ball from next to his heart, I sat and talked with Tony Pillage about his experience of being diagnosed with cancer and how it has changed him.

He told me how he found out he had cancer, what he did to try to fight back and the of the best and worst of treatments. He tells of a cancelled procedure that could have killed him and the fear of the operation itself.

Post op, he now feels something that he has never before felt, vulnerable.

This experience has changed his view of the world, the world of martial arts and view that each and everyone of us should have, according to Tony, of ourselves.

He’s candid in his answers in how publicly he choose to share the experience with the world via social media, the benefits it brought and how his future teaching of self defence will change. ‘What I’ve taught before’, he says, ‘self defence against an attacker is not what needs to be focused on solely’.

Rarely do you get to hear so soon after such a traumatic experience the thoughts of a person who has so grievously been affected. It is… super food for thought.

Richard Barnes – Dec 2014