Editorial

It is with a heavy heart that we write our last Editorial for the CMTR journal and yet it is an honor to dedicate this to our friend, colleague, and my previous boss, Andrew Baker, who tragically passed away in a road traffic accident in South Africa on 3 February 2023.

Andrew was approaching only 62 years of age.

Andrew was born in Chase Farm Hospital, Enfield in London.

He was the youngest of 3 siblings as he had an older brother and sister.

After school, he studied engineering for a year and decided this was not for him and changed to dentistry. He graduated from the University of Bristol and soon started his medical degree at the same university.

Andrew did his Registrar and Senior Registrar training in Scotland and was one of the first British fellows in the USA in Portland, Oregon.

After completion of the fellowship, Andrew became one of the best trained and experienced trainees in the UK and was sought after by numerous well-established oral and maxillofacial units.

He chose Derbyshire Royal Infirmary.

I first met Andrew at a party in Leicester, soon after he had taken up the post of Consultant Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon. He walked into the room and lit it up with his charisma and ability to chat to everyone. He had time for everyone and spent a lot of time talking to me despite me being a very junior trainee.

Subsequently, Andrew became my trainer but more importantly my friend. He had huge amounts of natural surgical ability, but what made him stand out was his willingness to try new things and expand the boundaries for both oral and maxillofacial and head and neck surgery. He was instrumental in developing new techniques such as endoscopic condylar fixation.

After leaving Derby, he worked in a variety of hospitals and then settled in Leicester with his wife Hazel, also an Oral and Maxillofacial Consultant. Andrew aimed to re-establish the head and neck cancer unit with a repertoire of reconstruction techniques in a hospital where this had been suspended. Despite knowing the challenges ahead of him, being the only Head and Neck/ Reconstructive surgeon and without any Registrars, Andrew was determined to get the service up and running. Leicester has a large population of Gujarati Indians with a high incidence of chewing paan and thus a high incidence of oral cancer.

After the first few major cancer cases, Andrew would sleep on his office floor in case of any problems with patients as he knew he had little suitably trained cover. He would provide a 24 hour, 7 day a week microvascular cover for his patients in case there were any issues for many years.

Andrew over the years reestablished and expanded the service. Just before his trip to South Africa, he said to me he can finally try and relax a bit. He had a colleague who he loved and trusted (Manish Mair) and well-trained fellows. He had achieved his aims to reestablish a service of state-of-the-art treatment to a local population that desperately needed it. Andrew was hugely popular with his patients. Stories of patients bringing him gifts such as a lady giving him a puppy for saving her son’s life are numerous. I have a school friend from Zambia, who now lives in Leicester, who also had been under Andrew’s care and could not praise Andrew enough.

Unfortunately, Andrew never managed to relax and look back and what he had achieved.

Andrew was obviously a very skilled surgeon, but there was so much more to him. He loved photography, and I would lose him on numerous trips abroad, where he had seen a superb scene and would spend hours trying to capture the moment.

He was an accomplished skier and despite damaging both knees would ski with knee braces and still managed to look elegant.

Andrew was a superb teacher and was a real asset to the AO. He was instrumental with others in establishing AOUK as an entity as well as lecturing on local, regional, and international courses. Teaching came naturally to him, and his power point presentations were some of the best that I had seen. He ran classes on presentation using power point and was well ahead of his time. He had an ability to simplify the most complex topics.

Andrew loved travelling, and I had been on over 15 holidays with him. He would make friends from the moment we arrived at the airport and would talk to everyone on holiday. His warmth endeared him to so many. Only last year Hazel said that on a trip to Jamaica, Andrew had befriended a man with very little and spent a long time talking and getting know him.

Despite travelling all over the world, Andrew had a special place in his heart for India. He loved the people, the food, and all that is India. He had travelled across India on a motorbike. He was very popular amongst the surgeons there for his dedication and friendship.

I owe Andrew so much. For his patience with me during operating sessions, for helping me achieve my first publication and my first presentation at the national meeting where I was awarded the prize for the best presentation.

But most of all I valued his friendship.

When people asked me why I liked Andrew so much, I always answered that he was really good to me and so much of what I have today can be attributed to him for his help and support.

Andrew was so generous with his money but most importantly his time to so many people. Not only in the medical field but to everyone he met.

My whole family got to know Andrew well, and he would often join us for Diwali dinners in Leicester. They all loved his sense of humor.

Andrew loved his family, Hazel, Maxi (his 13-year-old son), and Patricia, his mother. Every trip away together, he would talk about them and show their pictures to all.

A couple of days before his passing, whilst in South Africa, he said to Hazel how much they all meant to him and how desperate he was to get back to them.

Andrew, we will miss you for your friendship, humor, and for the time you gave all of us.

Sat Parmar, Rui Fernandes.