After a long shift, how would you expect a nurse at Lewisham Hospital relax? Shennoy Edge, from Plumstead, dons a pair of boxing gloves to follow in the footsteps of Anthony Joshua. The Greenwich Wire‘s special correspondent, MERCURY MAN, returns to tell us more.
What I’ve always liked to do – I suppose it must be journalism – is ask people I meet professionally what their big interest is socially.
One example was the talkative Uber driver who trained ambitious young wrestlers in Lewisham and was therefore lauded in this column.
So, when district nurse Shennoy Edge used a neat little metal weapon (“Are you squeamish?”) to clip 30 or so staples out of my right knee following my second knee replacement op at Lewisham Hospital, I duly asked her the pertinent question.
I hoped her answer would be cooking, and part of the follow-up could be sampling a nice spicy dish like jerk chicken.
“Boxing,” she said.
“What, watching?” I asked.
“No, boxing. Doing it.”
“In the ring, competitively? Fighting?”
“Not yet and I don’t think it will come to that. But you never know.”
“Blimey.”
Obviously, I didn’t leave it there. I got more or less the full monty, including some thoughts from Shen’s personal trainer, Oz – Osman Goni.
Oz trains Edge at PureGym in Charlton, a left jab away from the giant Sainsbury’s store.
He is obviously top notch on the training and fitness front, but how on earth did Shen get to this in the first place? Who was the inspiration?
“Anthony Joshua,” said Shen, who lives in Plumstead. “He inspires me because he’s not had the best track record, but he still managed to turn his life around through boxing and became a heavyweight champion.
“I love boxing, and it improved my cardiovascular health personally. I developed high blood pressure after having children and it’s been stable since I started boxing.”
Oz put it another way. “Shen is a nurse who boxes to stay strong for her patients, and I’m her trainer because I know the power of change,” he said.
”I lost 46kg myself. Boxing training keeps her sharp and resilient for the people she cares for, and my passion is helping others find their own strength, just like I did. We both believe health isn’t just about the body, it’s about having the energy and confidence to show up for life.”
Would it ever lead to a fight in the ring? “I don’t think it would because, firstly, I still consider myself an amateur, and secondly, I don’t have the confidence,” Shen said.
“I also love swimming and sea life. My dream growing up as a child in Jamaica was to become a marine biologist, but that obviously didn’t happen. However, I still swim sometimes in the local leisure centre.”
And becoming a nurse? “I decided to become a nurse because I have a very caring nature and I love biology,” she said. “I’m very much intrigued by the human body and the things it can do.
“Boxing is good stress relief for me. My job as a nurse is stressful enough. I actually lost my son two years ago. He was only a month old.
“I found comfort in boxing. My friends and family see it as a violent sport but I assured them I won’t be getting in a ring anytime soon.
“And I love being a community nurse. Every time I visit a patient at home, especially if they live alone and nobody visits them, I see how their faces light up even if I’m there for just 20 minutes. It really does feel like I make a difference.”
And boxing clever.
Mercury Man talks to SE Londoners with interesting tales to tell, continuing a long-running local newspaper column. Read his past stories.
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