I am pleased to announce that my vasculitis is in remission (see this page on Vasculitis UK for more information). This means that there are no active signs of the disease and my blood results show no signs of inflammation.
This is thanks to the excellent care of the Specialist Doctors in the NHS and the Rituximab infusions provided by the NHS.
All of the care I have received from NHS Staff has been nothing short of exceptional. Staff have been kind and compassionate. They have delivered safe, high quality and evidenced-based care.
The care has been driven by clinical need, without staff having to worry about the cost and without me having to worry about my ability to pay. I am beyond grateful.
My blood sugars have continued to reduce with my Hba1C currently being 52. My Hba1C was 58 in February 2025 and 99 before that. My Medtronic insulin pump (the MiniMed 780G) has played a massive role in this reduction, but so have better diet, increased exercise and loss of a bit of weight.
I have come off all medications, apart from insulin. This includes medications for high blood pressure, high cholesterol and mental health medications. I have made a number of changes to my life to become the happiest that I have ever been.
The hole in the roof of my mouth has gotten slightly bigger, now being about 1cm in size. However given the improvements to my overall health and the fact that the vasculitis is now in remission, the surgeon is keen to repair the hole in the roof of my mouth in the coming months.
I recently released my latest book FINDING YOUR HAPPINESS. I wanted to share with you why I wrote it. To do so, I need to tell you part of my story. So, here goes:
Nearly 2 years ago now, after two years of being physically and mentally ill, I was diagnosed with Vasculitis.
Vasculitis is an autoimmune disease, where your immune system wrongly mistakes small blood vessels for foreign cells and attacks them. The vasculitis diagnosis came with a reduced average life expectancy.
The average life expectancy for someone with Vasculitis is 20 years from the point of diagnosis. This meant I had just 20 years of life left. I was 38 years old at the time of diagnosis.
This shortened life expectancy caused me to ask myself: Are you happy? The answer was no.
I have Type 1 Diabetes and was slightly overweight. My blood sugars were always too high. I had high blood pressure and high cholesterol. I was on two different antidepressants and an antipsychotic medication. I didn’t have time, energy or motivation to exercise. I didn’t eat well or sleep well.
I was working in the National Health Service (NHS) as an Alcohol Specialist Nurse. I enjoyed my face to face work supporting people with addiction issues. But the ever increasing workload and other stressors made me unhappy at work.
My relationships with family or friends were good. Or at least, at the time, I thought so. I spent a lot of my time with family or friends trying to meet their expectations of me – to be entertaining and funny, to be there to support them in difficult times, to take care of them. This is what I thought a good relative or friend did.
I didn’t have a partner. I didn’t go out on dates. In truth, I’d given up on romantic love. I’d decided that I just wasn’t lucky in that department.
Despite being a Specialist Nurse on a decent salary, money was always tight. When I really thought about it: I was very unhappy. I felt like I was existing, rather than living.
I decided to use my own counselling skills developed in the 18+ years working with people with addiction issues to counsel myself. I decided to look at my entire life, every aspect of it, and ask myself: What would make you happier?Then I would make the necessary changes. It was a daunting task.
Sometimes, it is easier to be stuck in an unhappy and unfulfilling rut, rather than be brave and face the truth. Especially when facing and accepting where I was in my life. This involved acknowledging the unhappiness and beginning to make changes.
Change is always uncomfortable and sometimes even difficult. Our brains like patterns of behaviour, they are key to our survival as a species. But patterns of behaviour are not key to a healthier and happier life.
So I got counselling. In my eyes, the Counsellor had two roles. The first was to ensure I kept being honest with myself. The second was to ensure that I made the changes that needed to be made.
I explored every aspect of my life. I started making changes. After nearly two years of hard work, I can finally say that: I am the happiest I have ever been.
Transformation complete? No. True happiness is a constantly evolving and ever changing process. One that requires daily checking in with yourself, navigating through the challenges of life and continuous work to ensure you stay as healthy and happy as possible.
Take a moment to think about a time your past when you were truly happy. Imagine living every day with that same feeling of happiness. This is why I wrote FINDING YOUR HAPPINESS, because everyone deserves to live a happy life.
It was reported in various news sources (see for example here on the BBC) that one of the hospital bosses in charge of the NHS Trust where Lucy Letby committed her crimes was arrested by the Police on suspicion of perverting the course of justice this week.
The limited information about the ‘Hospital Boss’ have given me a lot of questions, including:
Why wasn’t the individual named? Lucy Letby was named before being found guilty, so surely it can’t be about protecting the individual’s identity.
Three other hospital bosses were arrested in June/June 2025 (see this previous BBC News report), but there has been no update. Why?
Are any of these hospital bosses professionally registered, and if so, have they all informed their professional bodies (such as the General Medical Council, the Nursing & Midwifery Council, etc.) of the allegations made against them?
Have any of these hospital bosses, who may have moved on to roles in other NHS Trusts/Other Employers, made their new employers aware of these allegations?
What happened to the idea of having a regulating body for senior healthcare leaders who are not otherwise professionally regulated? This idea seems to have been completely forgotten about.
Who are the Police using as professional advisors? They will require experts in the field to advise whether any evidence they discover is expected practice or not and if the evidence demonstrates corporate manslaughter or gross negligence. In Lucy Letby’s case the Police used a very questionable expert to help to convict Letby. I hope they don’t repeat this mistake.
What does suspicion of perverting the course of justice mean in relation to this case?
What support have the families been offered in relation to these on-going enquiries?
Are the Police including only the cases that Lucy Letby was convicted on or looking at all cases of infant deaths on the neonatal unit? If so, what time period are they looking at? The reports indicate that the Police are investigating corporate manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter, both of which could have been happening before the crimes of Lucy Letby. They could even still be continuing.
What is the NHS Trust doing to ensure nothing like this ever happens again?
What is the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) role in all this? The CQC last inspected this NHS Trust in the end of 2023, rated most areas as Requires Improvement (in the areas of Safe, Effective, Responsive & Well-led). I want to be clear: This is not a criticism of the CQC. Just a question. An idea I have thought about is the CQC perhaps having legal set timeframe for returning to any healthcare organisation that has areas that Requires Improvement?
Why hasn’t the Department for Health & Social Care released any statement about this or anything that is being done at the NHS Trust to improve? Surely, this would reassure local people.
I’m hoping that time will provide answers to at least some of these questions, if not all of them.
Antony Simpson is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk.
