SAVING animals by doing the seemingly impossible has won Professor Noel Fitzpatrick international acclaim. However, it's the orthopaedic-neuro veterinary surgeon's trademark kindness and heartfelt compassion that has won the hearts of viewers on his Channel 4 programme The Supervet.
Now in its 13th series, the programme based at Fitzpatrick Referrals in Eashing, Surrey, shows Noel and his team perform cutting-edge treatments and surgery on pets that might otherwise be beyond saving.
The Laois-born vets rise to fame is documented in Listening To The Animals: Becoming The Supervet, which he says he wrote to "inspire other to be kind to each other, be grateful for what they have and gracious about where they are going to".
"The book is about listening to the messages animals bring to your life. I like to think that it isn't so much an autobiography, but a universal story of hope," adds the 51-year-old.
In Listening To The Animals, Noel recalls growing up on his family farm in Ballyfin, his school years which were plagued by bullying and how he found solace in the company of his sheepdog, Pirate.
"I cried on many nights during those awful years. I closed my eyes to block out the pain, Pirate licking my tear-stained face," writes Noel, recalling a particularly violent day, where the bullies beat him and broke his bike.
He survived such punches and put-downs to realise his dream of going to veterinary school. Like his imaginary superhero, Vetman, he would one day save the animals.
Even to this day, Noel admits he is the 'victim' of online bullying. But his message to anyone affected by any form of bullying is "don't be defined by who they tell you you are".
"When you are in the moment of being bullied, you don't see a way out and you feel like you are imprisoned by the bad things that are being said," he explains.
"You are not what the other people tell you they are. You have the ability and the right to be who you want to be.
"If you make a success of things there will always be people who try and bring you down. I am a firm believer that you don't listen to your praise or your criticism too much, because it limits your creative space."
It was shortly after qualifying while working in west Cork that Noel encountered a farmer who would give him a saying that he would apply to his practice for the rest of his life.
Larry's home was a three-room thatched byre, which he shared with his personal milking cow and pet dog. During a call-out to treat the cow, the farmer asked Noel to help his collie who had suffered a broken femur. With no electricity and few tools, the farmer told Noel "everything is impossible, until it happens".
Noel then operated on the dog on the kitchen table under a Sacred Heart of Jesus gas lamp, using some heavy-duty wire.
On The Supervet, viewers have seen Noel fix exploded spines and crushed pelvises, install bionic prostheses and stem-cell implants and 3D-printed joint replacements.
He says his pioneering work often is born in a moment of need.
"Innovation comes from frustration. Ultimately, you get frustrated with things that are available at a moment in time and your innovate around that. It can't be just because you think it's a good idea, it has to be in the patient's, and family's interest."
Noel believes passionately that the bond we share with animals can teach us about true compassion and empathy.
"Unlike society, animals are not judgemental and sharing a moment of calm with those animals can give people a little oasis. I've seen the difference a dog makes to the lives of kids in intensive care wards, war zones or those affected by knife crime in inner-city London."
One of the stories he shares is how a homeless man pulled a knife on him while he was travelling in Philadelphia as a student vet. However, the man's dog saved Noel by throwing himself at his feet and they ended up spending the night together talking.
"I think that dog just intuitively wanted affection," he tells me.
"We are mostly conditioned by our environment, and the dog just wanted love. The man who was the attacker in that situation loved his dog and ultimately love saved both of us from that bad situation.
"That's what I talk about throughout the book – the love of an animal can save you from yourself."
On the subject of love, Noel is still single, admitting that he could never put the woman in his life before helping a dog or cat in crisis.
Of course with life, comes death. The 'supervet' explains how putting an animal to sleep is still the hardest part of his job and how, if the weather permits, he will perform the mercy outside in the garden to allow their last few seconds on earth to be spent in sunshine and grass.
Noel says: "In that moment of profound vulnerability when you are saying goodbye to an animal that has been an integral member of the family, all those experiences you have shared during its lifetime bubble to the surface, such as divorce, cancer or grown-up children leaving home.
"My vocation is to hold a paw and hold a hand and allow people to grieve and let it all out. The catharsis, hope and redemption comes through the peace of doing the right thing."
Before The Supervet, Noel was seen on our screens as an actor, having studied part-time at London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He secured a number of small roles in dramas such as Casualty, London's Burning, The Bill and Heartbeat, where he played both a sheep rustler and a vet.
Last year, he brought his first ever live stage show, Welcome to My World, to arenas across Britain and Ireland, including Belfast. While continuing to "do the very best for every animal that comes through my doors", he also has huge plans for improving and extending life for both animals and humans.
Noel's charity, the Humanimal Trust, campaigns for more synergy between human and animal medicine and to enable clinical trials in one discipline to be used by or to inform the other.
"'One medicine for all' is a co-operative, compassionate, common-sense approach that will dramatically reduce the number or animals used in testing and allow life-enhancing innovations and drugs to reach humans faster. That's my life's goal and purpose."
He also hopes people will join him in sharing a responsibility for our future ecosystem.
"My dream is to translate the love that we feel for animals in our homes to love in their homes too."
And, from a personal point of view, Noel hopes to one day work with rhinoceroses.
He tells me: "Hopefully in the future I will be able to do something to help them. I have a big dream about how we could look after the planet better – so watch this space."
:: Listening To The Animals: Becoming The Supervet by Professor Noel Fitzpatrick is published in paperback by Trapeze, £7.99.
