bmj;386/sep30_9/q2109/FAF1faAs a final year medical student at the London Hospital, Mansel Aylward dreamed of becoming a consultant surgeon in the English capital. On 23 October 1966, however, this youthful ambition came to an abrupt end.Aylward was driving home to Merthyr Tydfil in Wales when he was stopped by police who told him there had been a disaster in the mining village of Aberfan.Hearing he was a medical student, they directed him to the “rescuers.” He was one of the first healthcare responders on the scene and for more than 50 years he did not talk about the horror of the coal slide that engulfed a school and row of houses, killing 116 children and 28 adults, including two children from his own family.A compassionate, dedicated doctor and an internationally acclaimed public health champion—although his work did attract some controversy—Aylward recalled, “That experience, over two or three days, changed my life.”Abandoning…
