About the Author

Ayoposi Ojelabi is a UK-based writer documenting the lived experience of serious neurological illness and long-term recovery following a diagnosis of Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy (CIDP).

Before illness interrupted his work, he was a network engineer living between Lagos and Ibadan with his wife and their infant daughter. He arrived in the United Kingdom already experiencing unexplained weakness in his hands and legs. The diagnosis that explained those changes came several months later.

What followed was a period of severe physical decline that included prolonged intensive care, a bone marrow transplant carrying significant risk, and a lung collapse on the night the procedure was expected to conclude. In total, he spent ten months in intensive care across several hospitals, including University College London Hospital, Salford Royal Hospital, and Wythenshawe Hospital, before beginning rehabilitation at Cleveland House Rehabilitation Centre, where recovery continues.

Writing began during rehabilitation as a private record of what had happened. Over time, it became a way to examine how illness reshapes identity, relationships, independence, and the long discipline required to rebuild a life after medical crisis.

This work led to two books. Through Fire and Silence explores the internal experience of serious illness and the loss of control that accompanies it. Finding Strength in Numbness follows the full arc from early symptoms through intensive care, rehabilitation, and the gradual return of independence.

This website exists to share those experiences openly. Serious illness is often isolating, especially during long recovery. These essays are written from within the process rather than after it ends, with the aim of offering clarity and companionship to others walking a similar path.

He is married to Esther, whose steadiness sustained him through the most difficult stages of treatment, and he is the father of Tiaraoluwa, whose presence remained a constant source of grounding throughout the journey.