Apple Cores and Mandarins

A few weeks after celebrating his 50th birthday, the author’s life was turned upside down. He faced contracting a life-threatening disease whilst on a trip to China. He collapsed on the flight home and was rushed to the hospital in London, placed in an induced coma for six weeks and ventilated as his lungs had stopped working. Facing a cruel recovery package, learning how to walk and talk again he was hit with the devastating news that his beloved wife had breast cancer. Dealing with the trauma of watching her battle the cancer, being told she had defeated it and then unexpectedly dying after three weeks from having stomach pains. This book outlines his life, medical struggles and battles with mental health. It also outlines practical ways to cope with mental health and trauma.

Colin Millar MBE MEd BSc (Hons) PGCE PQH(NI)

Colin Millar was born and lives in Northern Ireland. He has been in education for thirty-two years. During this period he has been a teacher, education authority adviser, vice principal, principal and associate assessor with the Education Inspectorate. He became a widower in 2017 and took early retirement in 2019. He is the father of two sons Conor and Ryan. During the COVID-19 lockdown, he decided to write the leprechaun fairy tale which he told to his pupils.