At first glance, Dr Neil Hopper had crowned an extraordinary resurgence.
A double-leg amputee surgeon who not only defied sepsis and disability, he also made it to the brink of space exploration.
An S4C documentary had followed the Welsh-speaking doctor on his journey from near death to public acclaim and admiration.
He appeared in newspaper articles, gave radio interviews and even found himself sat on the This Morning sofa with Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford.
But behind the heartfelt support and recognition lay a much darker truth.
Hopper was in contact with Marius Gustavson – the “Eunuch Maker” – the man behind the deeply disturbing cult of surgical sadism and a hidden world where men paid to witness mutilation.
Broadcast on the evening of February 26 2023, Drych: Camau Tua’r Ser painted the portrait of a man reborn through hardship.
After a period of treatment following sepsis he said he had developed in 2019, Hopper lost his toes and much of the skin on the underneath his feet, so amputation was decided upon.
“Signing the consent forms – well, there aren’t words to describe how I felt,” Hopper told the documentary.
“I remember imagining the operation – operations which I do all the time, and thinking that power tools were going to be used on me. That was really difficult to process.
“I was in hospital for about six or seven weeks. The physical changes in my body were fairly easy to understand, but what I didn’t understand were the psychological changes and how hard it was just to fit back into family life.”
But receiving his prosthetic legs marked a turning point and allowed him to resume the career he loved, and also follow his dreams of becoming a parastronaut.
At the time, he was told that he had better reconsider his career, as it would not be “possible or practical” for him to return to the theatre.
“I was determined to go back to work,” he said.
“I wanted to prove that they were completely wrong. Throughout my career I’d always tried to imagine what it was like to have an amputation, so I didn’t expect to get the answer.
“You won’t have a chance to see what it’s like on the other side of the knife. My experience has made me think more about how I communicate with patients. I believe it has made me a better doctor.”
In February 2021, a call came from the European Space Agency for people to fill the newly advertised astronaut position as part of their Parastronaut Feasibility Project.
Having always had a great interest in things related to space, the role struck a chord, and Hopper decided to apply.
In December 2021, he was told that he had been selected for the recruitment process.
“When I saw the advertisement from the European Space Agency for a parastronaut, I had to put in an application,” he told S4C.
“The criteria were quite specific; you had to have a doctorate in engineering or medicine, you had to have a disability below the knee, and you had to speak a second language – hey, Welsh.
“At first my wife Rachel thought I was completely crazy.”
Hopper lost out to British Paralympian John McFall but told BBC Radio Cornwall that having gone quite far into the process he had begun to fear being selected and not returning from space.
“My wife was interested in what the insurance payout would be if the rocket blew up,” he joked.
But behind the polished prosthetics and public inspiration betrayed a more sobering reality.
This documentary, unknowingly, would become the high point before a stunning fall.
Within weeks, Hopper was no longer working at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust and restrictions were placed on his practice, and later he was suspended from the medical register.
Police investigations found that his legs had been amputated as a result of self-inflicted injuries to his own feet, rather than from developing sepsis.
The vascular surgeon, who had carried out hundreds of amputations himself, also purchased three depraved videos by Gustavson showing genital mutilation.
Before long, Hopper was not just watching and paying, his fantasy had become real life with his own body his plaything.
And when his world came crashing down in the spring of 2023, his decisions would ultimately cost him everything.
As his Instagram biography ruefully states: “12% robotic 100% idiot.”
