– as occurs in all adult GI Societies.
I would like to thank all the trainees from so many countries and backgrounds for their personal commitment and sacrifice over the last 25 years in coming to train with us ‐ it never ceases to amaze me how mothers and fathers and spouses can leave their loved ones for months, on occasions a year or more, in order to train in this fantastic compelling area. Their ability to do so has been facilitated by my amazing Endoscopy Fellow and Course Coordinator, without whom it would have been truly impossible to run such a successful training program ‐ Sam Goult. Thankyou Sam.And then, if you have got this far then ‘well done’. It is so important to me to hold up my hand and say that, in all honesty, I could have not done all that I have done (admittedly a microcosm in the great scheme of things) without the forbearance and tolerance of my wife Kay and my exceptional and talented and kind daughters Ella, Jess and Flo. Incredible people and my driving force. I am sorry to you all for being away so much giving lectures and all that stuff when you were growing up and when you, Kay, were managing them so amazingly, almost single‐handedly. I would have done things differently if I had had the time again and know what I know now. Medicine as a job is not necessarily life, although some times it is difficult to see beyond the vocation.
Lastly, I want to say a special thankyou to all the families and children that it has been my pleasure and privilege to help over the last 35 years.
As a small post‐script it would be remiss of me to not thank all the authors who have been extremely patient over the last 4 years and I hope that you will be happy with the labour of love that has produced this book with your extraordinary help. Nearly all of you are good friends – some are friends yet to make – some are friends during this process that have sadly passed. Gábor (Veres) was a great and a good man and I never saw him be anything but kind and intelligent and helpful and energetic. A particularly sad event occurred recently – Prof Samy Cadranel lost his battle against cancer. He trained and touched so many in our discipline from the late 1970s to the modern day. He was a real giant in the field of pediatric endoscopy – he produced the first bespoke pediatric endoscope in 1978, led the field in diagnostics and then in therapeutic endoscopy. He trained a generation across the world leaders in the field such as Carlo di Lorenzo, Luigi Dall’Oglio and many many others. I was asked by him to lecture on advances in endoscopy at his Festschrift in Brussels some 15 years ago – he may have retired but he maintained a phenomenally active role in ESGPHAN. Most recently he taught on our Endoscopy Learning Zone at the Annual ESPGHAN Meeting and was always there for me if I needed a bit of guidance or advice. What he did not know about pediatric endoscopy is not worth knowing. A polymath and a multi‐linguist, but above all a really nice man and a wise and good doctor. We will miss both of these guys greatly in the future.
Please enjoy this text if you can, and believe me when I say that this is the distillation of a life’s work, but not just mine ‐ it is a distillation of all that I have been taught and that George has been taught ‐ it is therefore the ‘handing down of knowledge’ which is key to keeping a discipline moving forwards.
YOU! – the next generation – continue to push paediatric endoscopy forwards – training, research, Courses, expansion of the ELZ, further collaboration with our friends all over the world and push for live endoscopy at all the annual meetings – but please remember that, like our counterparts in adult GI endoscopy, we should be recognized and have a say on the Councils of our respective Societies.
Can I just mention some amazing people that deserve it who have been mentioned and some who have not? Andrei Nita; Jorge Amil‐Dias; Alexandra Papadopoulos; Marc Benninga; Nikhil Thapar; Pete Lewindon; Tom Attard; Warren Hyer; Muftah Eltumi; Paul Hurlstone; Mark Donnelly; Mark McAlindon; Stuart Riley; Deb Salvin (of the world‐famous ‘Salvin procedure’); Dom Hughes; Helen Wigmore; Ben Roebuck, Jamie Shepherd; Dave Turnbull; Liz Allison; and of course all the extremely patient authors of all the Chapters.
Our work would not have been possible without the trust and cooperation of all the children and families, so much heartfelt gratitude goes to these – tens of thousands!
My working life has been orchestrated by two amazing PAs without whom I would never have found the time to do all of this. Sam – thank you! Kate – thank you! You are both incredible.
Thank you to the amazing team at the publishing house – Anupama Sreekanth and editing team all along the gestation and birth i.e. April 2021, including lastly Holly Regan‐Jones, who was amazing during ‘labour’. Lastly the production to completion expertly orchestrated by Hari Sridharan – thanks for your patience!
Undoubtedly there will be mistakes somewhere in all these pages, and if there are then, we’ll get it right next time (please let us know) ‐ but it has been a labour of love and thank you to everyone – absolutely everyone – that has contributed, in even the smallest way.
The FatBoys Fell Running Club of Hathersage deserve a special mention for keeping me sane and balancing my life – to whom I lost my virginity (in fell racing terms!) – ‘a drinking club with a running problem’!
Lastly a big hug and love to my dear long‐suffering wife Kay – thank you for putting up with me. And my fab daughters Ella, Jess and Flo, of whom I am immensely proud – sorry for the holiday time taken up with writing etc!!!
And as Sir Steve Redgrave, the most famous Olympic rower, said, on winning his last gold medal ‘If you ever see me in a boat again, shoot me!’ ‐ and that goes for textbooks for me as well.
Contributors
Jorge Amil‐Dias Department of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Centro Hospitalar de São João, Porto, Portugal
Paul Arnold Histopathology Department, Sheffield Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield, UK
Thomas Attard Department of Gastroenterology, Children's Mercy Hospital, Kansas, MO, USA
Vasile Daniel Balaban “Dr. Carol Davila” Central Military Emergency University Hospital and “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania
Valerio Balassone UOC di Chirurgia ed Endoscopia Digestiva, Ospedale de Bambino Gesù, Rome, Italy
Dalia Belsha Centre for Paediatric Gastroenterology and International Academy of Paediatric Endoscopy Training, Sheffield Children's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield, UK
Natalie Bhesania Department of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, The Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA
Jernej Brecelj Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, University Children's Hospital, University Medical Centre Ljubljana, and Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Samy Cadranel Queen Fabiola Children’s Hospital, Free University of Brussels, Brussels. Belgium
Marta C. Cohen Department of Paediatric Histopathology, Sheffield Children's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust; Honorary Senior Lecturer, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
Luigi Dall’Oglio UOC di Chirurgia ed Endoscopia Digestiva, Bambino Gesù, Rome, Italy
Paola de Angelis UOC di Chirurgia ed Endoscopia Digestiva, Bambino Gesù, Rome, Italy
Looi Ee Department
