I plan to leave Glasgow for a research post in London but a last minute "reprieve" results in promotion to a Senior Registrar post remaining in Yorkhill.  We discuss an extremely sick child who presented with a condition which, although still very rare, was seen surprisingly frequently in the mid 1980s. This condition is known as Reye syndrome.  I discuss the condition and the learning that arose from it. We look forward to the next steps on the way to being a consultant in child neurology.