Malcolm Linsell describes himself as a practitioner of the ‘surgery of self-esteem’ and his book An Ordinary Man, An Extraordinary Life is an open and often painful exposé of his life and lessons learnt.
After suffering serious burns to his hands that would later require surgery, Malcolm Linsell set his heart on becoming a plastic surgeon at an early age. Raised in a Salvation Army family (he played the cornet in the band), he grew up in a modest environment that valued love, compassion and trust.
In 1993 Malcolm was introduced to Wesley Koni, a young boy from the highlands of Papua New Guinea. Wesley had suffered horrific, disfiguring burns when he fell into a fire and he was brought to Australia for lifesaving medical treatment. More than two decades later Malcolm accompanied Wesley and a 60 Minutes team as Wesley returned to Papua New Guinea to be reunited with his family for the first time in 22 years.
Malcolm has Bachelor degrees in Science, Medicine and Surgery and a Masters of Surgery, all from Monash University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of Surgeons and is in private practice specialising in the management of skin cancer as well as the ‘Mummy Makeover’.
Malcolm’s life is an inspirational story of persistence and resilience and details his own financial difficulties, his painful divorce and major health challenges. Malcolm shares the lessons he has learned along the way in an open and candid manner and this makes the book a personal chronicle and contributes to it being such a good read.
