Michael McWilliam Occupation:Secretary and director of the Amputee Disability Federation Ireland.
Personal/family:Married to Myrtle with two children, Bryan and Tara, and three grandsons, Ben, Aaron and Cory.
What figure from the world of medicine or health do you most admire?
The doctors who founded Médecins Sans Frontières, which provides medical aid wherever needed regardless of race, religion, politics or gender.
What other career might you have chosen?
Follow in the family footsteps by doing law.
If you could grant three wishes for the health service, what would they be?
I would see to it that the Health Service Executive provides funding for prostheses for all amputees as happens in other European countries. (In the North, for example, the cost of two limbs with upgrades every two years is covered.) The provision of four multidisciplinary centres of excellence in Ireland for amputees and their carers, in line with European (and UK) best practice. Finally, the provision of a fast, efficient sanctioning process for limbs with a choice of supplier for the amputee.
What is your greatest fear?
Climate change and further limb loss.
Have you ever been a patient and were you a good one?
I have been a patient about 10 times during the past 20 years along with a year of daily outpatient activity. I first realised I was unhealthy when I had a triple heart bypass in 1988. In 1994 I had difficulties with my leg and I had 10 operations in three years to try to save it. In 1997 it had to be removed. In 2002 I had further vascular problems. When in hospital, I saw it as my duty to help all hospital employees laugh.
When or where are you happiest?
In the company of people and also with the dogs on the beach.
How do you cope with stress?
Playing computer board games and card games with background radio.
What is the trait you most admire in yourself?
Planning and project management.
What is the trait you most dislike in yourself?
An apparent inability to live in the present.
Do you use alternative or complementary medicine or therapies?
Occasionally, when it is blood test time and I hope to mislead my GP, I use Milk Thistle to counteract the effects of red wine on the liver.
Who or what makes you laugh?
My friends.
What is your motto?
Illegitimus non carborundum.
What is your favourite TV or radio programme?
Spooks and news programmes.
What books would you bring to a desert island?
History books, such as Norman Davies' Europe and Roy Foster's two Irish histories.
• In conversation with Fiona Tyrrell