At last I have my childhood dream job

Bored with his job, Jonathan Near seized the opportunity to become a radiographer

A CHILDHOOD injury gave Jonathan Near an all-too-close insight into the world of the radiographer – although it was 40 years before he became one himself!

“I fell off a swing aged 10, and back then they would X-ray your skull to check for fractures,” recalls Jonathan, 50, who lives in Wigan.

“It was done at my local hospital and the radiographer was really engaging and funny. I was upset, but he calmed me down by explaining how X-rays worked and showing me the images. I was fascinated, and from then on when anyone asked me what I was going to do when I left school, the answer would always be ‘radiographer’.” But the dream seemed an impossible one. “People would laugh. Where I came from, a rough estate in south east London, people didn’t go to university,” he says. “I had a bit of a tough time as a kid and left school with few qualifications.”

Jonathan had always been good at computing so, thanks to a Government-based course in his early 20s, he got a foot on the IT ladder and was very successful. “I eventually had my own contracting company,” he says. “But I was never happy. The office environment bored me, and I always felt there was something missing – which I now know was the patient care aspect. I find it far more rewarding than financial gain.

“So, at 45, I decided I’d had enough of chasing the money – I wanted to

Jonathan started researching a career in radiography. He’d maintained his curiosity all those years, following the technological developments, especially in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

He worked out that, while it would involve some major life changes, he could afford to do it if he did the learning and training within five years.

“I discussed it with my family and got their approval,” he smiles. “We realised it would mean tightening our belts for a while, but my wife Louise knew how unhappy I was in the office, and so I just went for it.

“I had to take GCSEs and an A-level equivalent access course, prior to starting in 2017 at Cumbria University to become a diagnostic radiographer. Along the way I trained at the Royal Preston and Chorley District Hospitals.”

After a 23-year career in IT, Jonathan can’t wait to start his new job for Southport and Ormskirk NHS Trust in September.

“It just goes to show that, even if you do poorly at school, you can still achieve career goals.”