Darren Watkins

Served as an RAF officer through operational and command roles. The military gave me a framework I’ve never shaken: preparation, discipline, and the ability to perform under pressure. You don’t wait to feel ready. You build the conditions for performance and then you show up.

Played professional rugby alongside my military service. Elite sport teaches you something medicine rarely does: how to train your body as a system, not just treat symptoms. Recovery is not rest. It is active, structured, and deliberate.

Twenty years building and leading high-performance commercial teams across the technology sector. CRO roles require you to think in systems: how inputs produce outputs at scale, how small consistent improvements compound over time, and how environment shapes behaviour. That lens turned out to matter enormously when everything changed.

Six cycles of O-CHOP. I respected the treatment completely. But I decided early: I would do everything within my control to support my body alongside it. Sixty-five-hour water fasts straddling each cycle. Daily ice baths. Sauna. Heavy resistance training. Breathwork. Tai chi and qigong. Lymphatic drainage. A complete overhaul of food and supplementation. How I built the protocol →

Remission is not a finish line. It is a responsibility. The protocol didn’t end with the treatment — it became a way of living. Fasting is now rhythm. Food is intentional. Movement is non-negotiable. And something unexpected has happened: others are following.