My Tribute to Veteran & Guinea Pig, Dr Sandy Saunders
Dr Arthur Courtney Saunders, a veteran and member of the Guinea Pig Club, sadly passed away on 26th February 2017, aged 94. He was known to all as Sandy. Unfortunately, I never had the chance to meet Sandy in person, but I was honoured to speak with him on the telephone last year, and our conversation shall remain with me forever. In November 2016, my debut novel, The Beauty Shop was released. I wrote it because I wanted to share with the world the remarkable story of the Guinea Pig Club - a club formed by injured servicemen who required the care of New Zealand plastic surgeon, Archibald McIndoe. It is a remarkable piece of history not only because of the pioneering plastic surgery McIndoe undertook but in everything else that he did. In many ways, he quite literally gave his all in helping 649 young men overcome the most horrific, debilitating injuries and set them back on the path to life; to living whole lives. One of the 'guinea pigs' was a young man called Sand