A surgeon who risks his life in disaster areas and war zones in order to save others will collect a Pride of Britain award.
For the past 23 years, renowned vascular surgeon David Nott has taken several months of unpaid leave each year from his NHS job in London to work as a volunteer for aid agencies such as Médecins Sans Frontières, the Red Cross and Syria Relief.
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Image credit: David Nott Foundation
He has provided surgical treatment to the victims of conflict and catastrophe in Bosnia, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Chad, Darfur, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Iraq, Pakistan, Libya, Syria, Central African Republic, Gaza and Nepal. And right there is why that man is fully deserving of his medal.
When there, he often works in makeshift hospitals using make-do instruments to save lives.
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Here he is explaining how the Syrian city of Aleppo's hospital facilities have been affected in recent years from extreme air strikes and other bombings.
Victoria Derbyshire presents the BBC's daily news and current affairs. Video credit: YouTube/Syria Relief/BBC/The Victoria Derbyshire show
The father-of-one, who was given an OBE in 2012, once refused to stop operating when IS fanatics charged into his theatre in Syria. He also declined to leave a hospital in the Gaza Strip when it was due to be targeted by an air strike.
He told the Mirror: "Everyone was leaving. But I knew I couldn't possibly leave this little girl alone.
"I said to the Red Cross anaesthetist with me, 'Do you want to go?' He said, 'No, I'll stay with you'. So we stayed together, both believing that all three of us would die.
"But I carried on with the operation, and as the minutes ticked by, I tried not to panic. I was expecting the worst, but I kept on operating.
"We were supposed to be blown up, and I was thinking, 'If it happens, I've done a lot with my life really'.
"If our time was up, I just wanted to be there to hold the little girl's hand."
This hero's humanitarian work started in 1993 when he flew out to Bosnia after seeing the conflict being reported on the news. The genocide saw thousands of people die, reportedly under Radovan Karadžić's and Ratko Mladić's guidance, among others.
"I'd seen a man on TV crying as he searched for his daughter among the rubble after a bomb blast in Sarajevo," David says. "I made a snap decision. I was overwhelmed by the necessity to help."
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Image credit: PA
In 2015, he and his wife Elly set up the David Nott Foundation, a UK-registered charity training surgeons to carry on his incredible work. He runs this while performing surgical roles at three London hospitals.
David will collect his Pride Of Britain award on November 1 on ITV.
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Featured image credit: Twitter/@NottFoundation
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Syria
