So many people have reached out to us at Resurge to express their gratitude, admiration and respect for the life of Martyn Webster.

We invite those who can to contribute to a memorial scholarship fund, which will enable his legacy to continue.

Martyn was a big personality and a tremendous presence for this Charity. He was enthusiastically involved with the work that became Resurge Africa from its earliest days in 1992 in Ghana. It was inevitable then that he would assume the leadership and responsibility of the Charity from its founder, Jack Mustarde, his friend and colleague.

Martyn’s vision was unwavering: to provide support for the establishment of self-sustaining reconstructive surgery and burns services in West Africa. This meant personally taking responsibility for raising funds, mentoring trainees, and inspiring many of his friends and colleagues to support this vision. For him, the most important role we could play as a charity, was to support and nurture trainees; under Martyn’s direction, many surgeons, nurses, therapists and anaesthetists from Ghana and Sierra Leone received training and mentorship, in Scotland, Ghana, India and Sierra Leone.

Two snapshots to mention:

In 2018 the new Reconstructive Surgery and Burns unit was opened in Accra under the leadership of surgeon Mr Opoku Ampomah. All funds and resources came from within Ghana. It is a self-sustaining clinical unit that also trains surgeons and nurses from across West Africa and beyond. Martyn was honoured at the Unit opening, for his services to the development of reconstructive plastic surgery in Ghana. There was an award presentation, and the evidence of the spectacular new surgical resource, but the biggest testament to his influence was the presence at the ceremony of many of the reconstructive surgeons, nurses, anaesthetists and therapists whose careers had been shaped and enabled in some way by Martyn.

And. It is poignant that in the week that we heard of Martyn’s death was the same week that we had so happily announced that a container load of clinical equipment had set off from the UK bound for Freetown. Martyn took Resurge Africa activities to Sierra Leone in 2011 and it was his mission to enable burns and reconstructive surgery services there. Drawing on experience in Ghana, and with the support of Ghanaian partners, the Charity started this journey: supporting the training of surgeons, nurses, physios, anaesthetists who would in future run the service in Sierra Leone. The building that will be Sierra Leone’s national reconstructive surgery and burns unit is almost complete, the equipment to get it founded is on its way. Martyn won’t see its opening, but we will all remember his role in making this milestone happen.

I hope that we can honour his memory by continuing to be able to support and fund the training of West African surgeons, nurses, physios and anaesthetists who will continue to sustain these services.