Mushrooms first came into my life in the early 90’s while studying QiGong in Taipei when a friend asked me to help with his mushroom business, editing the English translations of their literature. Based on the knowledge gained doing this I then began using mushroom supplements more in my clinical practice on returning to the UK. Later, after setting up Pure Health Ltd in 1997 I was approached to distribute a range of mushroom supplements in the UK and before long was being asked to teach other practitioners about their health benefits.

However, as my experience grew so did my questions and through researching the answers I ended up writing my first book: Medicinal Mushrooms – A Clinical Guide. This was followed in 2013 by Medicinal Mushrooms – The Essential Guide while the need for mushroom supplements I could rely on for my patients led to the founding of MycoNutri Ltd in 2008. With the manufacture of products came the need to fully understand the different mushroom raw materials as well as their supply chains and this led to multiple visits to growers and manufacturers in China as well as growers in the USA.

Having now stepped back from the commercial side of the mushroom industry I currently focus more on exploring the huge potential of mushrooms to uplift and benefit us all in partnership with fellow enthusiasts and to share their inspiring stories and create a channel for communicating their knowledge in 2020 helped launch The Mushroom magazine with the motto ‘Connecting, Sharing, Nourishing’.

Cancer support being the main area in which mushrooms are used therapeutically means that many of those who have contacted me over the years have been struggling with death in one way or another and so in 2020 I also published a small booklet ‘Waves on the Ocean’ to offer another way for those in this position as well as others to think about life and death.