A wee dander with ..............Dr Fionnula McHale - No such thing as can't

 

Where to start with the good Doctor? When the name 'Dr. McHale' flashes on your screen, in no way does it conjure images that remotely explore the depth and complexity of Dr. Fionnula McHale.  A woman raised in the great Western County of Galway, she studied medicine at Trinity, Dublin graduating in 2010, and then started up her own clinic in Dublin two years later.

 

Impressive, I hear you say, a driven intelligent young woman who has done well for herself but is there more?

 

Yes, there's more. Much more.  The grey description above doesn't even begin to describe Fionnula McHale.  How many Doctors out there have came from difficult childhoods, made it to medical school, took research fellowships around the world, lectured in a multitude of cities, became the World International Fitness Champion, 2 time European Powerlifting Champion, and opened their own clinic specialising in an alternative approach to health - Functional Medicine. It is a seriously impressive resume and she did all of this while fighting her own personal demons.  Life is not fair, as Fionnula will attest, but she shows us that if you are prepared to fight, prepared to accept help and let love into your heart, you can overcome the worst the life throws at you. You also need to be willing to allow the good things in life to come to you as we are all deserving of such.

 

Fionnula hasn't had it easy. She wasn't born with a silver spoon in her mouth and a 'paint by numbers' route to the top. She has had to fight, dig in, work extremely hard and crawl inch by inch to get there, taking the set backs and coming back for more. Fionnula always puts the foot in front no matter the force against her, embodying modern Ireland with the education to succeed and the confidence to pursue.  

 

 With a natural pioneer spirit, combined with a driven personality and the alacrity of a sprite, she exudes knowledge, comfort and thoughtfulness.  Listening to her if she tells you something, you will believe it, as her demure air projects an authoritative wisdom.  Fionnula can use factual evidence like confetti if required, but the common sense she speaks with means the average Joe can understand and more importantly, relate.    This calming balm allows you trust her words, and the authority with which she speaks them leaves you in no doubt as to the magnitude of the information she is imparting.

 

Swimming was the first sport Fionnula took to and her competitive nature allowed her to reach national level prior to leaving for college.  Her intense approach and discipline allowed her to maximise her skills but she could also enjoy the experience as she knew she was doing the work to improve, and not as something with a fixed end goal. She was able to ask herself what was she looking for in the competition and the constant healthy introspection was undoubtedly a factor in her success.  Fionnula was no less committed to her studies.  She knew application and hard work would get her to where she wanted to be so she did whatever it took. Sitting back and analysing the situation, the swimming would need to take a back seat if the studies were to improve to a sufficient level to get to Trinity Medicine. 5 hours per night with a plan and structure in place got her there. Hard work with a map.  She did every past paper back to 1991 and read vociferously until she got to the stage where she could be confident knowing she had done all she could and understood everything in the curriculum that was possible.   It is a great thing to know that you cant do anything more, and it constricts the amount of self doubt that can normally creep in at exam stage and hamper would be university students.  She enjoyed the challenges and rose to them. You laid down a marker, then she passed it. 

Intelligent and driven, stylish and sporty, confident yet still vulnerable? Dr Fionnula's story is a fascinating one, filled with emotion, sacrifice, set backs and successes, she embodies the attributes of determination and will to win, although her journey has had many up and downs.  One thing about Fionnula is that she does not stop moving forward. She conquers one mountain at a time, always in forward gear, never in reverse.

This discipline and the benefits of such, stayed with her throughout her life and brought her the focus required to succeed.  Undoubtedly Fionnula has a competitive spirit and you cannot mistake her as  someone who does not rise to the challenge.   Her studies were approached in the same manner, 5 hours per night at time because she knew that was the requirement in order to fulfil her goals.  To many, that obsessive trait is alien, certainly at that age, but Fionnula enjoyed the challenges set to her and it manifested itself in achieving exactly what she set out to do.  A forensic approach was her nature, and a half hearted effort simply would not suffice.  

She had worked in a variety of fields such as orthopaedic surgery, endocrinology and gastroenterology with research posts at University of Ulster, Regenerative clinic Galway , University  of Miami and Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.  Never the easy route was taken.  

It came to her that the right thing to do was reduce people's perceived need for medication and that this could be achieved by making people simply eat healthier bedrocked by the importance of good gut status.   This functional medicine approach came to her following her own battles with health and depression that was not responding to conventional medicine.  Specializing in proactive health using the tools of Functional Medicine, Strength and Conditioning and Intravenous Nutritional Therapy, Fionnula is a firm advocate of 'Your health is your wealth' philosophy.  The system based approach  takes a view of the whole person not just the realised symptom.  

Some of her key messages are: 

Anything less than 100% for you should not be acceptable.

 There is always a way to optimize.

 Never settle for less than your best

 Put in the hard graft and get educated

 Well being and health is Nr 1 priority. Always.

 Do what you enjoy on a daily basis. Enjoy that process and not just the end result.

Never stop learning

Keep experimenting with yourself

Find a passion - then it doesn't feel like work. 

The goal is to have a more fulfilled life, not someone elses. 

Restrictive diets will most likely not get you there. Be balanced.

If you're not happy then take action to change that.  Understand yourself and take time to do so. 

 

A true leader and inspiration. 

Never....stop....moving....forward